East Malaysia Christians refuse to use ‘Yahweh’

9/30/2010 Malaysia (CathNews Asia) – The Malaysian government is attempting to convince Malaysian Christians to use the word “Yahweh” for God instead of “Allah”.

Cabinet minister Datuk Seri Idris Jala is heading the Barisan Nasional (BN) government’s efforts to convince Christians to use the word “Yahweh” instead of “Allah” in Malay, but he is facing stiff resistance from within his own church, the Malaysian Insider reports.

Putrajaya has dispatched special envoys – including Jala, a Christian – to parley with his community and seek a peaceful end to the “Allah” court dispute, amid Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s overtures to world leaders urging pragmatism in dealing with extremists.

The Malaysian Insider understands, however, that the move at home may have caused a rift within the Christian community – in particular Jala’s own Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) church – with the English-speaking, urban and middle-class members on one side and the poorer, rural churchgoers who mainly use Bahasa Malaysia in their worship, on the other.

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Malaysia’s churches have been fighting a protracted court battle with the ruling BN government for the right to use the word “Allah” to refer to God in Christian worship.

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