FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — The head of the Baptist World Alliance has sent a letter of support for the "Baptist family in Malaysia" in light of a rash of attacks on churches since a controversial court ruling that Christians can use the word "Allah" when referring to God.
Malacca Baptist Church was splashed with black paint, Jan. 11. It is one of more than a dozen houses of worship vandalized in the majority-Muslim country since Jan. 8.
Neville Callam
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"The Baptist World Alliance has learnt, with sorrow, of the difficulties the churches in Malaysia are facing as a result of violent opposition to the use of the term 'Allah' for God by persons who are not Muslims," Neville Callam, general secretary of the global Baptist organization, wrote Jan. 14 to John Kok, a vice president-elect of the BWA and a former president of the Malaysia Baptist Convention.
"We note with concern your government's response to the present crisis and we want you to know that we are joining you in praying for patience and wisdom in the face of the situation in which you find yourselves," Callam said.
Government and religious leaders in Malaysia have roundly denounced the attacks, fearing that increasing political, cultural and religious polarization threaten the nation's reputation as one of the world's most moderate majority-Muslim states.
Churches of various denominations have been targeted, most hit by Molotov cocktails. On Jan. 12, a Sikh temple had a glass door cracked by stones, making it the first non-Christian house of worship hit. Sikhs also use the term "Allah" to describe God in Punjabi. In apparent retaliation, someone threw a liquor bottle at the outer walls of a mosque in the state of Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo.
The unrest stems from a Dec. 31 ruling by a judge striking down a three-year-old government rule banning a Catholic newspaper from publishing the word "Allah" to refer to the Christian God. Judge Lau Bee Lan said Malaysia's Constitution forbids Christians from using the name to proselytize but permits them to use it in their own educational materials.
The government said the ban was needed to prevent churches from confusing Muslims and enticing them to illegally convert to Christianity. The 60 percent of Malaysia's 28 million people who are Muslims are governed by Sharia law. Non-Muslims, including a 9 percent Christian minority, are governed by civil laws.
The Herald of Malaysia newspaper argued that Malay-speaking Christians have been addressing God as Allah for more than 400 years and that it is the only suitable word for "God" in the language. In other predominantly Muslim countries like Indonesia, Egypt and Syria, Christian minorities freely use the Arabic word to refer to God.
Malaysia Baptist Theological Seminary, located in Penang, Malaysia, opened in 1954.
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Father Lawrence Andrew, who edits the newspaper, said that in the Christian context, "Allah" refers to the "God the Father" aspect of the Trinity and not to the "one and only God" used by Muslims.
The ban is the most recent of a number of religious disputes that cause observers to believe the country is adopting an increasingly polarizing interpretation of Islam that could restrict the rights of religious minorities. In 2009 the government confiscated a shipment of 10,000 Bahasa Malaysia-language Bibles from Indonesia because they contained the word "Allah."
The government, meanwhile, has accused Christian church newsletters of delving into politics and degrading Islam. The Herald, for example, received a show-cause letter in 2008 questioning whether an article on America and jihad was derogatory toward Muslims.
The ban on use of "Allah" applied only to the Catholic newspaper's Malay-language edition, read mainly by indigenous tribes who converted to Christianity decades ago. Malaysia's population is about 50 percent Malay, 24 percent Chinese, 7 percent Indian and 11 percent indigenous and others.
Isaac Yim, president of the Malaysia Baptist Convention, told BWA leaders that tensions had calmed somewhat since most of the attacks took place between Jan. 8 and Jan. 15.
Established in 1953 with five churches, the Malaysia Baptist Convention joined the BWA in 1957. Today it has more than 22,000 Baptist members in 163 congregations as well as a seminary.
"We continue to monitor the situation and we pray for the restoration of peaceful relations among all who seek to honor the call to be children of God," Callam said in his letter to Kok. "We pray God's wisdom on you all as you forge ahead."
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.