US church expresses SUPPORT for Malaysian Christians over ALLAH persecution by Umno-BN

As Malaysia's Islamic authorities continue to preach in their Friday sermons that the word “Allah” is exclusive to Islam, a church in the United States has joined other international critics to express concern over this exclusivity claim which is "unique to Malaysia".

In a letter from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to the Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM), it noted that Christian communities in the Muslim world and in countries where Arabic words permeate local languages, God has always been referred to as “Allah”.

"This is not just a matter of faith, but also a reality of history and language.

"It is with great sadness that we continue to witness the burden you bear in the controversy in Malaysia over the use of the word ‘Allah’," said Bishop Elizabeth Eaton in the letter dated February 5, which was sighted by The Malaysian Insider.

The letter also noted that the raid and seizure of Malay and Iban Bibles from the Bible Society of Malaysia’s premises last month had brought "renewed attention to the unique problem faced by Christians in Malaysia".

"What is particularly disturbing about the incident is how it violates Malaysia's own Constitution, in which Article 11 sets out the freedom of religion."

Eaton added that the seizure of Bibles and the continuing threats against those who advocated the use of the word “Allah” were a blatant and aggressive attack on the moral and multicultural fabric of Malaysian society.

"We pray that the Malaysian government will continue to ensure that the rights of the Christian community under the Federal Constitution are not violated.

"The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America stands with the Christian community of Malaysia and together with all Malaysian citizens who stand for justice and freedom of religious belief and expression," she said.

The ELCA is the result of a merger of three Lutheran churches in 1988. They were the American Lutheran Church, Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and Lutheran Church in America.

Now 25 years later, the ELCA has more than four million members.

The American church joins the ranks of many other international bodies and scholars that have reiterated that the word “Allah” is not exclusive to Islam.

Even the United Nations body weighed in on the “Allah” issue in Malaysia, when its Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, called on the Malaysian government to reverse its decision to ban Catholic weekly Herald from using the word.

In a statement released in Geneva late last year, he had warned that the case may have far-reaching implications for religious minorities in the country.

"Freedom of religion or belief is a right of human beings, not a right of the state,” Bielefeldt had said.

UN Independent Expert on minority issues Rita Izsak and UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression Frank La Rue had both echoed Bielefeldt’s call.

The Herald won a High Court decision in December 2009 that overturned the Home Ministry's ban on the use of the word “Allah” in its Bahasa Malaysia section.

However, last October, the Court of Appeal overturned that decision, saying that the word was not integral to Christianity.

The international community, including Muslim scholars, criticised the court ruling, arguing that believers of different faiths have used the word “Allah” for more than a millennia.

One of them was well-known American Muslim theologian Reza Aslan, who had said he was mystified by the ruling.

"Al-Ilah means 'The God'. It is almost a blasphemous thought to think that ‘Allah’ has a name. And this is not an interpretation. It is a historical fact," Reza had said.

On January 2, tensions over the “Allah” issue escalated when the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais), raided BSM and seized more than 300 Bibles in Malay and Iban.

The Bibles have yet to be returned. - TMI