Update on Malaysia 'Allah' ruling
CHRISTIANS in the states of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia can
continue to refer to their God as "Allah", the Prime Minister of
Malaysia, Najib Raza, said on Tuesday. Last week, an appeals court
ruled that non-Muslims could not use the word to refer to God (News, 18
October), a decision described by the Archbishop of the
Anglican Church in South East Asia, the Most Revd Datuk Bolly Lapok
(above), as "utterly irresponsible and grossly demeaning".
On Sunday, the Attorney-General of Malaysia said that the word
could continue to be used in Malay-language Bibles.
Beating swords into ploughshares
THE shooting of a teacher and two students in Nevada by a
12-year-old boy, who killed himself, is "a disturbing reminder that
our nation has made little meaningful progress towards . . .
measures to prevent gun violence", the Dean of Washington National
Cathedral, the Very Revd Gary Hall, said on Monday. On the previous
day, gun-control campaigners gathered at the Cathedral to use
hammers to bang on gun parts, in reference to the Bible verse in
which men would "beat their swords into ploughshares".
Compass Rose appointment
THE Bishop of Texas, the Rt Revd Charles Andrew Doyle, has been
elected as the president of the Compass Rose Society, an
international mission society that supports the work of the
Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Consultative Council.
