>My fellow blogger anthony at old testament passion has an interesting post on the struggle of the Catholic Church in Malaysia with the government’s ban on the use of the word “Allah” for God.

Here is an excerpt from anthony’s post:

Parishioners here have held all-night vigils the past two weekends to pray for a favorable outcome to a long-running battle between their Catholic weekly and the government on the use of the word Allah.

For the past few years, Herald has been engaged in a dispute with the government on the use of the Arabic word for God in the section of the weekly printed in Bahasa Malaysia, the national language. The Home Ministry has maintained that Allah refers exclusively to the God of Islam.

Parishioners of the Church of St. Francis Xavier in Petaling Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur, have prayed overnight in the church on Saturdays, from 7.45 p.m. until 6 a.m., starting on Jan. 10.
One parishioner, who requested anonymity, told UCA News their action intends to show not only the government but also Catholics that all people have the constitutional right to call God Allah.

According to anthony, it is not only the Catholic Church in Malaysia that is using the word Allah, but all Christian churches use Allah to name their God. However, the government says that only Muslims can use the name of God. Anthony said that the word “Allah” has been used for long time in Malaysia as the proper Malay translation for “God.”

If you decide to read the article, I also recommend that you read the comments made to anthony’s post. In the comments, anthony provides some additional information about this controversy.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Allah, God,Malaysia

var addthis_pub = ‘claude mariottini’;