Allah vs. God

Nessie3 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 04, 2008 5:00 am

[url=http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200712/CUL20071226a.html]God Vs. Allah Issue Threatens Catholic Newspaper in Muslim Country
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Quote:

(CNSNews.com) -The government of Muslim-majority Malaysia will not renew a Catholic newspaper's license to publish unless it stops using the word "Allah" to denote God.

The editor of the Herald has come up against an issue that has affected inter-religious relations before in the Southeast Asian country, which is often cited as an example of pluralistic democracy in the Muslim world.

Shortly before Christmas, the Internal Security Ministry sent a directive ordering the weekly to drop the use of the word "Allah," when referring to the God who Christians worship, editor Fr. Lawrence Andrew said Wednesday.

Instead, the newspaper should use the word "Tuhan," which is a general term for God in the language spoken by the majority of Malaysians, Bahasa Malaysia.

A ministry official was quoted as saying that "Allah" referred only to the Muslim god, and its use was designed to confuse Muslims.

About 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people are Muslim Malays. Large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities are Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and followers of other smaller faiths.

The constitution guarantees religious freedom, but Islam is the official religion, despite the fact that 40 percent of the population is not Muslim. Furthermore, the constitution states that all Malays are Muslim -- a stipulation critics say makes it difficult for a Malay to convert to or profess another faith. Minorities also frequently complain about discrimination.

Editer · **Posted:** Fri Jan 04, 2008 5:02 pm

Interesting that Malaysia is essentially claiming ownership of an Arabic word.

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Mon Jan 07, 2008 12:43 am

From the home page of the source cited:L

The Cybercast News Service was launched on June 16, 1998 as a news source for individuals, news organizations and broadcasters who put a higher premium on balance than spin and seek news thatâ€™s ignored or under-reported as a result of media bias by omission.

Study after study by the Media Research Center, the parent organization of CNSNews.com, clearly demonstrate a liberal bias in many news outlets â€“ bias by commission and bias by omission â€“ that results in a frequent double-standard in editorial decisions on what constitutes "news."

I'd like to lock this thread for 18 hours to do a coupla checks.

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Mon Jan 07, 2008 6:47 pm

The BBC reports:

Malaysia reverses Allah paper ban
By Robin Brant
BBC News, Kuala Lumpur

The Malaysian government has reversed a decision to ban a Christian newspaper using the word Allah to refer to God.

The government had threatened to refuse to give the Weekly Herald a publishing permit if it continued to use the word.

The paper's editor said the word had long been used by Christians to refer to God in the Malay language.

The ruling was immediately condemned by civil rights and Christian groups in Malaysia, who said it infringed their right to practice their religion.

But Malaysia's internal security department demanded the word be removed, saying only Muslims could use it.

'Over-zealous ministers'

Now the government has back-tracked.

In a fax to the Herald's editor, the government says it will get its 2008 permit, with no conditions attached.

Father Andrew Lawrence told the BBC he was delighted, saying prayers had been answered.

He blamed politics and a general election expected here in 2008 year for what he said were the actions of a few over-zealous ministers in the Muslim-dominated Malay government.

Religious issues are highly sensitive in Malaysia, which has a 60% Muslim population.

Religious freedom is guaranteed in the law but minority groups have accused the Muslim Malay majority of trying to increase the role of Islam in the country.

longwords · **Posted:** Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:05 am

Language Log has also been tracking this issue here and also in these posts.

I particularly liked this remark and quote put up by the poster, Bill Poser:

Quote:

Ironically, the clarification is described as including the following:

Quote:

The use of the word "Allah" shall not be made a public debate that may give the impression as if there is no freedom of religion in the country, he added.

Golly gee, its hard to imagine how anyone might have got the idea that there is an absence of freedom of religion in Malaysia.

There's nothing like the "because I said so" political school of management.

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