Christians in Indonesia Move Underground.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Fearing bombings and shootings by Islamic militants, some Christians in Indonesia are abandoning traditional churches in favor of more unorthodox but secure confines, such as hotel ballrooms and office blocks.

With foreign governments warning of holiday terror attacks, tens of thousands of police officers will guard churches in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. Metal detectors will be in place for most services and armed escorts will accompany parishioners, church officials said.

“It puts us at a lower risk for being a target for religious persecution,” said Pastor Steve Lunn, originally from Seattle, whose International English Service holds worship services for 1,000 people in a downtown Jakarta office building.

“People tell me they feel safer,” he said. “The facility itself is not the most important thing. It’s just a place to gather. The most important thing is being together and worshipping God together.”

The vast majority of Muslims in Indonesia practice a moderate version of the faith.

And the tiny minority of extremists practices wiping out Christians and other Westerners:

Four years ago, suspected militants from the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group bombed 11 churches on Christmas Eve, killing 19 people.

The group was also blamed for the 2002 nightclub bombings that killed 202 people on the resort island of Bali, a 2003 attack on the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta and a blast at the Australian Embassy in September.

This year, more than 140,000 police will be deployed at churches, shopping malls and hotels where Westerners gather during the Christmas period, a police spokesman said.

“People are still afraid,” said Pastor Hengki Ompi, whose church was attacked earlier this month by suspected Muslim gunmen on the central Indonesian island of Sulawesi. “We hope the attacks stop so we can celebrate Christmas without fear.”

Plans to build new churches sometimes draw violent protests from Islamic groups, which view them as an attempt to convert Muslims. Church leaders also say a 35-year-old decree requiring neighborhood approval before new places of worship can be built is being used to discriminate against them.

Rev. Ruyandi Hutasoit has eight churches in office towers in Jakarta and a ninth that was closed following protests from Muslim radicals. His drug rehabilitation center and seminary were burnt down by Muslim mobs in 1999.