Christians insist they worship same god as Muslims
Aziz P
Presented for your perusal without further comment.
A church and Christian newspaper in Malaysia are suing the government after it decreed that the word "Allah" can only be used by Muslims.
In the Malay language "Allah" is used to mean any god, and Christians say they have used the term for centuries.
Opponents of the ban say it is unconstitutional and unreasonable. [...] There has been no official government comment but parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said the decision to ban the word for non-Muslims on security grounds was "unlawful". "The term 'Allah' was used to refer to God by Arabic-speaking Christians before Arabic-speaking Muslims existed," he said.
Well, one comment: obviously, the ban is wrong and any muslim supporting it is an idiot.
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I agree with the sentiment here, but the plain text of the article more says that Christians use the same WORD for god as Muslims. This is not the same as saying they worship the same god. Though I think that point could be (and has been!) proven using more authoritative sources (koran, etc.).
That settles it, the christian church and newspaper in Malaysia lose.
But they can use the word, Deus.
Although dealing with Christian bigotry does get tiresome I'm sure (I certainly find it embarrassing), I do think the English speaking Muslim community would do well to use the English equivalent "God" just to seem less weird and alien to people who aren't well-informed. Nothing will move those who are utterly determined to see Islam as evil and alien, but others can be educated easily enough I'd think.
All things, considered, I'm hardly the guy to lecture anybody about the ethincs of naming their deity.
But if jewish Americans can call their god HaShem ("the name"), then why can't islamic Americans call their god Allah?
And what's weird about any of that?
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Its not really the name but whether the fact of having different names means they are, in fact, different gods.
You see, despite every claim to the contrary, the differing textual grounds, differing means of worship, differing views on what the god in question would do in various situations, and differing views on what behaviors us mortals perform [dis]pleases said god, those gods are the same - or so I'm told.
--|PW|--
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.