Posted on 01/08/2010 6:18:54 AM PST by marshmallow
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. map of Kuala Lumpur showing location of churches attacked
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 in its Malay-language edition.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court struck down the three-year old ban on non-Muslims using of the word Allah.
Some major Muslim organisations, including the Islamic political party, PAS, have agreed with the court, saying other Abrahamic religions - Christinaity and Judiasm - 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.
Molotov cocktails
The argument has continued in the media and the courts for months but had not become violent - until assailants on motorbikes were seen smashing the windows of the Metro Tabernacle Church, a Protestant church in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
I’ve heard nothing about this anywhere else, how about you?
Jesus loves you. mohamet wants you dead.
L
Nada.
If Islam is the “Religion of Peace”, why is the Muslim first resort always to violence when dealing with those they oppose?
In addition to everything else (being violent, hate-filled loonies, for example), Muslims are just plain D-U-M-B.
Better not claim that Muslims are violent, or else they will murder you...
You know... the Death Eaters.
LOL
Never heard of that one.
Well, it sort of fits :)
The 100th name of Allah is Satan.
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