The earlier post I made was regarding the issue about the Catholic Herald being reprimanded and being denied the licence, should it not comply with conditions (orders, rather) imposed on them.
It had upset me for two reasons - firstly, that "they" should deny the Catholics the licence to print at their whim and fancy, and secondly, that they might attempt to restrict our communication with our young ones and East Malaysians.
Little did I know that the issue was about something as silly as the word (or name, rather) used to describe GOD.
Now, what we have is a festering boil, that threatens to inflame religious sentiments, passions and emotions. Considering the abundance of intellectuals in the Christian clergy, I'm quite surprised that the Church Fathers didn't see it coming!
What we have also on our hands is a potentially lethal debate, which if not handled in a delicate manner, may get "out of hand".Before I jumped the gun to write on this issue, I decided to wait and see - firstly for the "full story", and secondly if this was an issue that was "hot" in the Catholic community. Last but not least - just spend Christmas without this issue bugging me.
So, it turned out that the issue was "god" himself- Ha, Ha!!!
My opinion on this matter wouldn't exactly be the opinion of "mainstream" Catholics (- after all, I was once told by a priest that I'd "definitely go to hell" for asking too many questions).
I thought a bit, and decided not no write much about such a nonsensical issue. As a matter of fact, I too was initially quite upset to hear it being used in churches/ prayers, without really understanding the context of usage. As of now, I don't really have much problems with it, despite knowing for a fact that the Arabic word for "God" is actually "I-LLah", although "Allah" is also used interchangeably.
The way I look at it, it's just a matter of semantics.
Some look upon the word "Allah" as a word for "God"; and others, look upon it as a name for their God - it's as simple as that.
So Jo Bahrum, you wanna advertise your pea-brain, by all means go ahead - but know for sure, that you'll be offending a significant population, by restricting their freedom to worship the way they choose to. Go patent the Arabic word if you like - makes no difference to me ..... just allow Herald print in BM.
By Toutatis - I'm sure my God is bigger than the word "Allah"!
