On December 31, 2009, in an attack of common sense, the Malaysian High Court overturned a 24 year ban on the use of the word ‘Allah’ by non Muslims(1). The decision unleashed a wave of destructive demonstrations and acts of vandalism across the country. This most recent manifestation of ethnic and religious tensions started back in 2007 when The Herald, a Malaysian publication of CatholicOnline.org, was refused a publication permit renewal, citing the 1986 ban imposed by the Malaysian Cabinet. The ban also included the words ‘Solat’ and ‘Kaabah’. These words, according to my on-line translator, mean respectively, ‘prayer’ and ‘house’. I’m not entirely sure about the import of the word ‘house’, perhaps my translation is off, but I certainly am glad they nailed down the ‘prayer’ thing. They can’t have all these other, lesser religions thinking that their talking to an imaginary being was in any way the same as when Muslims do it. Although the word for prayer was important enough to include in the ban, it doesn’t seem to induce quite as much passion as the debate over who is allowed to call God, Allah or Allah, God. Yes, that’s right, apparently we’ve regressed from simply fighting ‘in’ a God’s name to fighting ‘over’ that name as well.

But alas, not all Malaysian Muslims are so devout and protective of the sanctified singularity of their imaginary friend. Some, at least the majority of those sitting on the High Court, even believe that non-Muslims have equal rights and access to the use of the same words. God/Allah Forbid! The overturning of this ban was apparently so upsetting to some Muslims that they were driven to fire bomb and vandalize 11 churches, the offices of the Catholic newspapers attorneys, two Muslim prayer halls, a Mosque, and a Sikh Temple (2). The fact that the due process of law is ignored by fanatics doesn’t surprise me, but why the prayer halls and the Sikh Temple? Aren’t they Muslims also? Perhaps they are the wrong kind of Muslims, or simply not good enough Muslims, refusing to join in the anger over an issue of such obvious divine import. Not only did these disgraces to the holy hot-headedness of Islam get rocks thrown at their Mosque and some paint splattered about, but bloody pigs heads were left there also. That’s right, this issue is so important that animals had to die in order to make the point. Forget that they are cruelly mutilated animals, they are cruelly mutilated ‘unclean’ animals. Cruelly mutilated unclean animals left outside a Muslim Mosque! The horror. I bet they were glad to have at least one infidel around to clean that mess up. There is speculation that these heads may have been gifted to the Mosques by either Christians or Hindus and not necessarily other, more pious Muslims. As a result, it’s not even clear precisely what message these pigs died in order to convey, other than to insult the Muslims that attended these particular Mosques. The entire government has pledged its support, and that of the police, in order to solve this crime and bring the perpetrators of this hellacious hog-head hurling harassment to justice.

Ethnic and political tensions are boiling barely below the surface in Malaysia and some speculate that this increase in disharmony is caused by the particular form of Islam promoted by the political elite. Malaysia’s ruling party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) upholds and supports the countries constitution which states that Islam is the state religion and that all ethnic Malays must be Muslim. So, while the government works hard to portray Malaysia as a modern and harmonious society the reality seems different and all parties seem intent on keeping the issues entrenched in religiosity.(3)

In all its political wisdom, the Malay government stepped in to quiet the fuss by suspending the courts decision, allowing the ban to stand. Several meetings have transpired with Islamic government officials and Muslim clerics to work their way through this daunting quagmire. Islamic fundamentalism seems to have complicated politics in this multi-ethnic county that has a sixty percent Muslim majority with substantial communities of Christians, Hindu’s and Buddhists. Efforts at compromise and negotiation continue amid the unyielding doctrines and dogma affecting Malaysian society. While I mock this particular argument, the truth is that it creates a diversion from dealing with the truly complex problems of relations between ethnic Malaysians and Chinese Malaysians. This silly ‘Allah’ debate is just something to grab onto as justification to act on those biases, bigotries and aspirations for political control. Religion is a very convenient tool for mobilizing a population in the pursuit of a political agenda. It’s a quick path to credibility and legitimacy for even the most illogical of differences. However, as long as individuals and religious institutions continue to patronize such agendas so willingly, by supporting and promoting such discord, the subject matter of their religious excuse for conflict becomes fair game.

Let’s examine the impact of such a decision. Without the ability to use the word Allah, what are the Christians going to do? Every time they turn around someone is persecuting them by telling them they can’t do whatever the hell they like, whenever they like. Now they’re being told that an Arabic word, that Christians in various Arabic-speaking countries have been using for hundreds of years, even before Islam, to refer to their God, is no longer available to them. Their God only gave them part of a secret code word. The Muslims got a whole word! All the Christians got was JHVH, or YHWH, depending on whatever latin translation you may be using. The Muslims at least got some vowels. Perhaps that’s it, perhaps the Christians are simply having a bout of vowel envy. But, if the Muslims are claiming their own special word, why shouldn’t the Christians use the secret code word that their god, kind of, gave them? They’ve turned this consonant salad into both Yahweh and Jehovah. Whats wrong with using either of those monikers, if they feel ‘God’ has become either inappropriate for the situation or simply too passe? What are those sneaky Christians up to now?

According to Malaysian Muslims, the good and strict ones that is, it’s an attempt to confuse and trick Muslims into worshiping the wrong god, perhaps resulting in conversion. Could it be? Such a diabolical plot? Maybe they have a point. If a poor innocent Muslim happens to wander into a Christian church without noticing the cross, or a picture of Jesus and maybe a few saints, not to mention the absence of prayer mats or the presence of chairs or pews, and, if they happen to partake of some of that free bread and grape juice as a snack… Ohmagawd…it’s entirely possible. If the Christians already have a couple perfectly good code names, given by God himself, what do they need another one for? Their goal could only be complete world domination through surreptitious conversion. One would have to be a fool not to see it.

Poor God/Allah, or Allah/God, whichever you prefer; I wouldn’t want to accidentally upset anyone. He’s not going to know who’s talking to him. Some Christian could end up with the seventy two virgins and pre-pubescent boys that some Muslim blew himself up for, and that poor Muslim could be stuck singing the same 20 or 30 Christian hymns over and over for all eternity. The math alone creates a logistical nightmare. I don’t think there’s enough Christian virgins to make up for the bevy of burqa’d babes accidentally bestowed on expired Christians instead of Muslim martyrs. This is completely unacceptable. This is like planning a wedding reception with the Hatfield’s and the McCoy’s and getting the seating all screwed up. What about when it comes time to smite someone? If God/Allah doesn’t know who is asking, he won’t know which enemy to smite. The potential for friendly fire smiting is truly worrisome. What if the two religions start to exploit this apparent loophole and send in double-agent prayer warriors? The resulting mayhem is unthinkable. Heaven/paradise will be in disarray. It’s obvious why fire bombs and bloody pig heads were the rational thing to do.

Meanwhile, this modest conflagration has been ‘back-burnered’ by the sodomy trial of the Leader of the Official Opposition Party in Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim. In 2008 he was arrested and charged with having sodomized one of his aides. This is the second time such charges have been leveled against Anwar by the Malay supremacist backed Islamic majority party UMNO (4). The politically disingenuous and divisive tactics of this religiously pious right-wing group could make Americas Tea-bagging Christians conservatives proud.(5) The progress of this case will likely affect any continued stirring of the religious pot as needed to keep good, patriotic, Allah fearing Malays on their toes and ready to scream at any public demonstrations, or Malaysian versions of town-hall meetings.

So, what’s shaping up? Could it be a divine battle of ‘The King of Kings’ Vs ‘The One True God’ in an identity crisis of biblical/Qur’anic proportions. Of course not; not really. It’s a bunch of ignorant extremists and political manipulators inflaming ethnic tensions and using religion as a means to further their own agendas. The fact that such a conflict exists, as a ruse or not, only demonstrates the mediumness of the thinking that is being employed. These religions are intent on continuing to find new and even more embarrassing ways to make fools of themselves and/or be manipulated by others. We, as a society, must progress to the point where we no longer have such displays of organized and government sanctioned superstition and ignorance to deal with. At that point, if we survive extinction in the name of some fanatics God/Allah, perhaps we can work together to solve the real issues that affect us all. Until then, this story will, unfortunately, likely have an update. So, in the spirit of all that is godly and godlike: Molotov cocktails, rocks, spray paint and bloody pigs heads for everyone. Perhaps we’ll even have a few beatings and a divinely sanctioned murder before this episode is either finished or escalates into an all out political/racial civil war…um, I mean Holy War/Jihad. God/Allah is great.

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This is the second week of a new daily series on News Junkie Post known as the Progressive Unity Project. Every day, there will be a new article published from the perspective of the environment/ecosystem, labor/unions, LGBT, immigration reform, science, legalization of marijuana, or secularity.

Secular Sunday

Liam Fox Is a Secular Humanist active as a Human Rights Advocate, Social Justice Activist, and Climate Justice proponent. He is a Social Service Worker and Community Program Organizer as well as Musician and Public Speaker. Liam can be found in most places the web connects and also writes for IrreverenceCafe and his home site, and can be found on Twitter.

“Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its only sure defense. True irreverence is disrespect for another man’s god.” – Samuel Langhorne Clemens

(1)- http://this-is-the-mad-style.blogspot.com/2010/01/herald-allah-case-summary-of-court.html

(2)- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8482267.stm

(3)- http://votecharles.wordpress.com/2010/01/07/the-allah-controversy-between-shared-living-and-tipping-points/

(4)- http://www.mahalo.com/anwar-ibrahim-sodomy-accusation

(5)- http://anwaribrahimblog.com/2010/02/08/malaysias-anwar-seeks-to-remove-sodomy-case-judge/

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