{"id":30244,"date":"2014-03-04T10:00:36","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T15:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=30244"},"modified":"2016-09-30T15:57:13","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T19:57:13","slug":"catholic-church-pushing-for-right-to-use-the-word-allah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2014\/03\/catholic-church-pushing-for-right-to-use-the-word-allah\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic Church pushing for right to use the word “Allah”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

From The Wall Street Journal:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Catholic Church is gearing up for an expected tough fight Wednesday at Malaysia\u2019s highest court when it argues for the right to appeal a lower court decision banning it from using the word \u201cAllah\u201d in its newspaper.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The lower court ruled the word is exclusive to Muslims, who make up the majority of the country. The church counters that it wants to use \u201cAllah\u201d for its Malaysian Malay-speaking members, who for generations have used the word to refer to the Christian\u00a0 \u201cGod.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision \u2013 which could come on the same day or within weeks \u2014 will have far-reaching implications for religious minorities and the news media in the generally moderate Malaysia, where conservative Muslims have been asserting themselves. Christians argue that, while Islam is the country\u2019s official religion, the federal constitution extends significant protections and rights\u00a0 to religious minorities.<\/p>\n

Analysts say that if the ban is enforced,\u00a0 it would violate the religious freedom of\u00a0 Malay-speaking Christians, who use the word \u201cAllah\u201d in their worship.\u00a0 According to the Christian Federation of Malaysia, 64% of\u00a0 Christians in Malaysia have no other language for their Bible, prayer and worship except for Bahasa Malaysia.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Bahasa-speaking Christians, the word \u2018Allah\u2019\u00a0 is fundamental.\u00a0 If you are banned from using the word \u2018Allah,\u2019\u00a0 then what is there left for you to practice in your religion?\u201d said Mr. Ng Kam Weng, the research director of Kairos Research Centre, a Christian think tank in Malaysia that supports allowing Christian churches to use the word \u201cAllah.\u201d \u201cChristians cannot\u00a0 correctly represent their faith in the media. They are denied the public instrument for expression of their faith.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From The Wall Street Journal:\u00a0 The Catholic Church is gearing up for an expected tough fight Wednesday at Malaysia\u2019s highest court when it argues for the right to appeal a lower court decision banning it from using the word \u201cAllah\u201d in its newspaper. The lower court ruled the word is exclusive to Muslims, who make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,602,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interfaith-news","category-muslims","category-ripped-from-the-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nCatholic Church pushing for right to use the word "Allah"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From The Wall Street Journal:\u00a0 The Catholic Church is gearing up for an expected tough fight Wednesday at Malaysia\u2019s highest court when it argues for the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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