Malaysia Rejects Call to Release 10,000 Bibles

November 4, 2009

Author: Julia Zappei

Source: Google News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h3eYxFp52iokYsD4r33qYcI26BBQD9BOMPH80

The Malaysian government has refused to release 10,000 Bibles confiscated for using the word "Allah" to refer to God, a banned translation in Christian texts in this Muslim-majority country, an official said Wednesday.

An official from the Home Ministry's publications unit said the government rejected pleas by church officials to allow the Bibles, imported from Indonesia, into the country. Christians say the Muslim Malay-dominated government is violating their right to practice their religion freely.

Such religious disputes are undermining Malaysia's reputation as a harmonious multiethnic, moderate Muslim nation. About 30 percent of the country's 28 million people practice Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism or other faiths.