The vandalism of a small Seventh-day Adventist village church in the province Vojvodina has caught the attention of the country's president, Boris Tadic. In his comments to the nation President Tadic said the January 8 incident was hooliganism and such acts must be stopped. The president also publicly requested that the police speed up the investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Unidentified people broke into the Adventist church between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. in Stapar, in the municipality of Sombor, in the northern part of Serbia and set fire to the building, destroying the pulpit and several church benches.

Church officials say that since the fire many Adventist church buildings and institutions in Serbia have come under police observance and protection.

News of the fire was broadcast on many of the national TV channels, as well as in several newspapers. Several government officials also expressed dismay at the incident.

Prior to this incident, Pastor Miodrag Zivanovic, president of the Adventist church in South-East Europe, had written an open letter about religious freedom in Serbia and sent it to the government, including the Ministry of Religion and Internal Affairs and the media. Pastor Zivanovic's letter was a reaction to the sermon of His Excellency Archbishop Pavle, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who in his Christmas sermon called for peace and tolerance.

The president of the Municipality of Stapar was also surprised and said that he couldn't understand who would attack a church that is so well respected in this village. The village president continued asking, "Who would have anything against such a peaceful and pleasant group of people?"

There is also an Orthodox church in the village that was not harmed.

This is not the first time an Adventist church in Serbia has been targeted by vandals. In April 2003 an Adventist pastor was severely beaten and 11 churches were vandalized. Church officials then called the string of attacks an "orchestrated campaign against a religious minority" in a predominantly Orthodox country.

"Serbian society has had to face many acts of religious intolerance for the last 10 years ... mixed with religious nationalism," said Dr. John Graz, director of the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty department of the Adventist world headquarters. "The strong reaction of the authorities in this case against such an act is encouraging."

In the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, 70% of the population are Eastern Orthodox Christians, 20% Roman Catholics and Catholics of Eastern Rites. 3,6% are Protestants, including 3,600 Adventist Christians, organised in 88 local congregations. The Adventist village church of Stapar has 30 adult baptised members.

[Up-dated with news items from Adventist News Network/ANN]