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Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous
I did not want to have a religion thread specifically, if anything i didn't want to talk about religion at all, rather the cultural and historical bullshit we self-servingly masquerade as religion 
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Churches attacked in Malaysia
Three churches have been damaged in a firebomb attack in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur, causing religious tensions to escalate after a court decision allowed non-Muslims to use the word Allah to refer to God.
The attacks have been condemned by Prime Minister Najib Razak who said that such actions would "destroy our country's harmony".
READ MORE: Churches attacked in Kuala Lumpur
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This sad occurence is an interesting manifestation of cultural baggage masquerading as religion. Malaysia is a muslim country, but it is not Arab. While the huge population of Muslims do not generally speak Arabic, of course God is "Allah". However proper Islam requires at least a vague familiarity with Arabic..
anyways Christians in Malaysia (not just missionaries, but Malaysian Christians) are using Allah as a name for the God of the Christian Bible, the Father of Jesus Christ. This has been a legal issue in the country where such actions are legally prohibited and even criminally seditious . But this is NOT Islam, this is a cultural quark of Malaysian muslims.
In places like Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, long standing Christian communities, some of which are the oldest continuous Christians in the world, who are the originators of much of the beliefs of Christianity in general, use the Arabic word "Allah" for God the Father of the Christian Trinity,as these folks are often either ethnic Arabs or speak Arabic as a primary language. There is not the same backlash as in Malaysia, because in places like Syria or Jordan Christians are a sizeable portion of the population, and even in Egypt, where they are an extreme minority, Copts have a relative degree of freedom. The Egyptian government does not sieze Coptic bibles or Agpeya prayer books for references of God as "Allah". If anything, muslims in the middle east are rather respective of the "people of the book" aspect of Islam, which has mutual respect for Christians and Jews.