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 »

 Posted by Anil Netto at 12.04pm  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

End the Occupation: Mid-East bishops

 Christianity, Ethnic and inter-religious relations, Iraq, Islam, Israel and Palestine  13 Responses »
Oct 242010
 

Middle East Catholic bishops meeting at a special synod in Rome over the last fortnight have called for Israel to end the Occupation of Palestinian territories so that a two-state solution can be found.

The bishops are the ones who are familiar with the situation on the ground.

Here is an excerpt from their final joint communique:

IV. Cooperation and Dialogue with Our Fellow-Citizens, the Jews

8. The same Scriptures unite us; the Old Testament, the Word of God is for both you and us. We believe all that God revealed there, since he called Abraham, our common father in the faith, Father of Jews, of Christians and of Muslims. We believe in the promises of God and his covenant given to Abraham and to you. We believe that the Word of God is eternal. Continue reading »

 Posted by Anil Netto at 5.13pm  Tagged with: , , , , ,

Concern over Western Road burial plots ad

 Christianity, Development issues  20 Responses »
Sep 132010
 

They may worship in separate churches belonging to different denominations, but in death they share the same cemetery in Western Road in Penang. Now, an ad inserted in the local press requiring those with burial rights and relatives of the deceased to register with the MPPP has raised consternation among segments of the local Christian community.

It was the bit about the one-month deadline to register “failing which MPPP would take necessary actions to repossess the burial plots for use” that created something of a stir. See theSun report here and a letter from a concerned reader here who asked, “I am of the opinion that MPPP only has the right to ask descendants, family members and their appointed personal representatives to re-affirm ownership of burial plots. But that is the most that they can legally do. MPPP does not have any legal right to seize old burial plots even if nobody comes forward to re-register claim.”

I got in touch with a couple of MPPP councillors to find out what was going on. Here’s what I learned: Continue reading »

 Posted by Anil Netto at 12.59pm  Tagged with: , , , , ,
Page 1 of 212