MALAYSIAN CHURCHES FIRE-BOMBED AS 'ALLAH' ROW ESCALATES
January 8, 2010
BBC News reports: “Three churches have been attacked in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur, ahead of protests by Muslim groups.
The administrative offices of one church were destroyed by a firebomb attack and one of the other two churches attacked was slightly damaged.
Some Muslim groups are angry at a court decision allowing non-Muslims to use the word Allah to refer to God.
The government of the mainly Muslim nation has condemned the attacks on the churches and vowed to take action.
About 60% of Malaysians are Malay Muslims and the government relies on their vote.
There also significant Chinese and Indian minorities, who are mainly Christians, Hindus and Buddhists.
The controversy stems from a ban on a Catholic newspaper, The Herald, using the word Allah.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court struck down the three-year old ban on non-Muslims using of the word Allah.
Some major Muslim organizations, including the Islamic political party, PAS, have agreed with the court, saying other Abrahamic religions - Christianity and Judaism - may use the word.
But some vocal groups, including the Muslim Youth Movement, Abim, have cast the use of the word Allah as a surreptitious effort on the part of Christians to try to seduce Muslims away from Islam.
Church officials say that although the word Allah originated in Arabic, Malays have used it for centuries to refer generally to God, and Arabic-speaking Christians used it before Islam was founded, reports the BBC's religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott…”
January 8, 2010
BBC News reports: “Three churches have been attacked in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur, ahead of protests by Muslim groups.
The administrative offices of one church were destroyed by a firebomb attack and one of the other two churches attacked was slightly damaged.
Some Muslim groups are angry at a court decision allowing non-Muslims to use the word Allah to refer to God.
The government of the mainly Muslim nation has condemned the attacks on the churches and vowed to take action.
About 60% of Malaysians are Malay Muslims and the government relies on their vote.
There also significant Chinese and Indian minorities, who are mainly Christians, Hindus and Buddhists.
The controversy stems from a ban on a Catholic newspaper, The Herald, using the word Allah.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court struck down the three-year old ban on non-Muslims using of the word Allah.
Some major Muslim organizations, including the Islamic political party, PAS, have agreed with the court, saying other Abrahamic religions - Christianity and Judaism - may use the word.
But some vocal groups, including the Muslim Youth Movement, Abim, have cast the use of the word Allah as a surreptitious effort on the part of Christians to try to seduce Muslims away from Islam.
Church officials say that although the word Allah originated in Arabic, Malays have used it for centuries to refer generally to God, and Arabic-speaking Christians used it before Islam was founded, reports the BBC's religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott…”
