Getting along in the name of God
I am therefore writing to express the World Council of Churches’ solidarity and support in your efforts to address this challenge and to restore the example of Malaysia’s multi-religious society, through an application for leave to appeal against the court’s decision, due to be heard on 5 March.
Allah, Malaysia and the FCC, The Economist
IN A haunting song that can moisten eyes in either country, the Greek singer George Dalaras describes a Christian compatriot and a Turkish Muslim sitting near the Bosporus, toasting friendship and vowing not to let religion divide two down-trodden sons of toil. He imagines the Turk crooning: “You have Christ, I have Allah, but we both say “ach” and “ah…”
But what if it’s a Christian who wants to say Allah, because that ancient Semitic term happens to be the only or main word he knows for God? That is the situation for Arabic-speaking Christians, and for Christians who speak the language common to Malaysia and Indonesia, often known as Bahasa. In Malaysia, there has been a long and lamentable legal battle over the issue, as Muslims with high-level official support lobby to prevent Christians from addressing Allah. (Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahaim, although a devout Muslim, takes a different view; he defends the right of Christians to use the A-word.)
This week, the World Council of Churches, which speaks for more than 300 Protestant and Orthodox religious groups in over 100 countries, took a stand on the issue. It is supporting the Malaysian Catholic church’s request to appeal against the latest judicial decision, one that upheld the ban on their use of Allah.
