Allah issue: Long wait for appeal date

 Christianity, Ethnic and inter-religious relations, Islam, Judiciary, Media  8 Responses »
Jan 192011
 

One year on, and the Allah issue is still in limbo.

Or rather we are still waiting for the Court of Appeal to fix a date for the government’s appeal against the High Court’s landmark decision in favour of the church. For now, though, the Catholic Church’s weekly Herald tabloid is unable to use the term ‘Allah’ as the government has obtained a stay pending appeal.

Meanwhile, the Church has reprinted a rare Malay-Latin dictionary, first published in 1631, which shows that Christianity was already using local languages in the region four centuries ago. Continue reading »

Allah issue leads to Muslim-Christian dialogue

 Ethnic and inter-religious relations  21 Responses »
Mar 292010
 

In case you are having the Perkasa blues, this should brighten things up: Muslims and Christians have been holding dialogue sessions in church halls across the northern region ever since the Allah controversy led to a spate of arson attempts on places of worship.

You could say it has opened up an avenue for a rapprochement of sorts among the ‘People of the Book’, heirs to the Abrahamic spiritual traditions.

The latest church to play host to such a dialogue was St Louis Catholic Church in Taiping. Now, St Louis, along with the Convent School next door, was the target of an arson attempt on 10 January.

Continue reading »

Sadness

 Arts, culture and sports, Christianity, Ethnic and inter-religious relations, Islam  7 Responses »
Jan 182010
 

A haunting melody by songwriter Amirah Ali, who won the Best Pop Category for “Tell Me“  in the 2008 Signature Songwriting Competition.

Thanks for the lead, Sivin. While listening to the song, check out the report “Four reasons for controversial ‘Allah’ ruling” in the Malaysian Insider here.

Music and Lyrics by Amirah Ali
Engineered by Jon Gillespie

I am saddened and angered by the recent happenings in my country, Malaysia. I would like to share with you this song that I wrote. We are all ONE and so is GOD.

KATAKANLAH

Hari ke hari ku cari
Tapiku tidak pasti
Seribu malam ku mimpi
Tapi ku belum fahami

Continue reading »

Weekend reflection

 Christianity, Ethnic and inter-religious relations, Islam  3 Responses »
Jan 162010
 

Here are a couple of articles that gave me hope and which I appreciated.

On respect, thinking and dialogue – Interview with Tariq Ramadan (theSun)

The day I spoke at the Hall of Holy Spirit – by Mujahid Yusuf Rawa (Malaysian Insider)

Meanwhile, broken glass has been found near the outside wall of a mosque in Kota Samarahan, Sarawak.

Continue reading »

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