You mean extremists like those forcing Mosques to close in other countries? Or extremists like the ones here in the USA trying to stop the building of a mosque in New York?

Speaking of Indonesia, it's not a hot bed of tolerance. You can get killed there, or if you're lucky, be put in prison, for being an Atheist. They recognize only a few religions and you MUST be one of those. Here's just one story.

May 18, 2012 -- 2:54PM, BDboy wrote:

Even the Swiss are not exactly "Hot bed of tolerance". However in case of Indonesia, I would say the country has an easy going crowd.

They were not so "easy going" with that Atheist I mentioned.

The Story you shared is one story that has been misunderstood. The guy "Alex" who alledgedly distorted a verse from the Qur'an in his post. Which offended a lot of people. While personally I do not get offended so easily, many people do.

Even if they were offended they still had no right to beat up the guy and no right to imprison him.

I say this because there are tons of non-practicing Muslims all over the world and no one worries about them. But when you "Insult" the religion by distorting one of the popular verse in the Qur'an, often it is not tolerated.

That intolerance should not be tolerated. Anyone should be allowed to say whatever they want about any religion.

I have known quite a few atheists among Muslim crowd and people know them. But they don't go around throwing insults. Just like Most Muslims don't go around atheist crown and 'Tell" them that, they are going to sit on hellfire!!

"Death to Infidels" is a pretty common phrase. They don't "tell" Atheists they're going to hell, but they want to SEND them there.

This is bad manner.

Yes, it is. Beating up or imprisoning - or KILLING - people for speaking their mind about any religion is a "bad manner."

If I go to San Fransisco and bad mouth gay people, I am sure I may get whipped for it.

Only if you want to be whipped. Other than that, they'll leave you in peace to say whatever you want about them.

So as long I keep my faith in myself and share it in a civilized manner, people are tolerant about it.

It appears Atheists cannot do just that in Indonesia.

May 19, 2012 -- 6:02PM, Ken wrote:

We're talking about Indonesia here. Does anyone seriously believe it's a civilized nation comparable to, say, France? Or even the better parts of the United States?

In some ways they are far more civilized than certain parts of the USA. But it appears the churches were shut down because the buildings were unsafe, not because of the religion they taught.

Indonesia recognizes 5 religions and from what I've read is considering "recognizing" a dozen more. That the government has to recognize a religion is bad in itself, but such a "recognition" is not law, but a fact, in many parts of the USA.