Burn the Bible, and you burn the church

Pentecostal Churches of Malaysia representative Bishop Robert Judah Paul also expresses resentment against Perkasa chief’s Bible burning plan.

KUALA LUMPUR: Perkasa’s plan to burn the Malay edition of the Bible, which carries the word “Allah” to refer to God, is equivalent to burning churches, the Pentecostal Churches of Malaysia representative Robert Judah Paul said today.

“Burning the Bible is equivalent to burning churches and the churches have every right to bring it to their highest authority. Churches which are linked to international non-governmental organisations will seek the international voices to air their grievances… and this would reflect badly on the country,” he told FMT in an interview.

He said Pentecostal Christians will stand by the Catholics in protecting their religious rights if it comes to that.

“Churches are united and we strongly feel it is a political move rather than a social threat,” he said.

Recently, Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali announced that the organisation will seek out Malay Bibles which carries the word “Allah” and burn them. This caused a furore among Christians in the country.

While the issue is more religious in nature, politicians have not missed the bandwagon, especially with the general election just around the corner.

About 9% of the country’s 29.1 million population are Christians, practising various denominations of Christianity.

“Ibrahim made a wrong statement which incites anger and hatred among Malaysians. We, as Christians are against the statement and totally abhor what he said,” he added.

Robert said if Ibrahim proceeds with the burning of the Malay Bibles, the Churches will initiate legal proceedings against him.

He said there are various reasons why the Malay Bible was being targeted by the ultra-Malay group.

“The Sikh holy book also refers to God as Allah while some Hindu scriptures also do the same. Why target just Malay Bibles? I feel that it is because Christianity is the closest to Islam. Maybe they see Christianity as a threat to Islam.

“Christians will take to the street if our voices are not heard legally. Ibrahim and whoever are behind him are very narrow-minded and are not looking at the bigger picture”, he added.