Church Burnings in Malaysia

The Indonesian web site World’s Prophecy recently published the news of churches being bombed in Malaysia for using the word “Allah”.  When they originally published the story, three churches had been attacked — the count is now up at least eight.

“Allah” is the only word for “God” in the Malay language, and yet the Islamists are trying to prevent members of other religions from referring to their own gods as “Allah”.  To most of us in the civilized world, this seems beyond silly — something one might see in a bad comedy skit.  And yet this is the reality under which many people on our planet still live.

The issue in Malaysia reached the burning point recently because a High Court judge ruled that the Malaysian governments ban on the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims was not legal.

Until that point, the Malaysian government had been enforcing a ban on the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims, including confiscating Bible’s written in the Malaysian language and censoring non-Islamic news media which use the world “Allah.”

The Herald, a local newspaper which serves Malaysia’s persecuted Catholic minority, sued the government over the issue.  The Herald pointed out that use of the word Allah predates the invention of Islam by Muhammad in the 7th century.

After the surprising loss in court, the Islamic majority turned to terrorism to continue their oppression of competing religions.  This is being done through a campaign of burning and bombing Christian churches.

Muslims make up only 60.4% of Malaysia’s population and yet they are able to enforce the subjugation of members of other religions through both legal and illegal means. Non-Muslims in Malaysia are fighting for their freedom — they are fighting on the front lines of the war on terror.  In this, they deserve our support and our thanks.  If they fall under the whip of oppression, that same oppression will advance towards us.  Today the fight is in Malaysia, tomorrow it may be in Singapore or London or Detroit.