Christians in Jerusalem

(https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/christians-face-persecution-by-israeli-settlers-in-jerusalem-world-council-of-churches/3007104)

Christians face persecution by Israeli settlers in Jerusalem’s Old City, WCC 

3 October 2023

by Ahmed Asmar

JERUSALEM

Christians face “persecution” by Israeli extremist groups amid government inaction, the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Jerusalem said on Tuesday.

"We feel persecution against our community and religion,” WCC coordinator in Jerusalem Youssef Daher told Anadolu.

"There is a Jewish Israeli persecution, encouraged either by police negligence or by statements made by Israeli cabinet ministers,” he added.

A video emerged on Monday of Israeli settlers spitting on the ground as a group of Christians left a church in Jerusalem’s Old City.

"If the Israeli police were serious, it would not have allowed such incidents,” Daher said. “There is negligence by the [Israeli] authorities, and this encourages those extremists.”

Daher estimates the number of Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem at around 8,000.

He said Christians documented several assaults against churches in recent months.

“Churches filed complaints with the Israeli police, but nothing happened,” Daher added.

East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967, is home to several historic and holy sites for Christians, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

(End)

Denied to return to Christianity

（https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2023/10/04/court-denies-muslim-converts-bid-to-return-to-christianity/?fbclid=IwAR1wigFkdiFVddady5rf2aF1mgIUl-2fhd56wLwBffoFXm3JPSH5lmi7BvA)

(pic) Court denies Muslim convert’s bid to return to Christianity

The 45-year-old loses his bid to renounce Islam after divorcing his Muslim wife in 2015.

4 Octtober 2023

by Ho Kit Yen 

The Kuala Lumpur High Court says it is bound by a Court of Appeal decision which held that the civil courts have no power to review a shariah court’s decision.

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here has denied a male convert’s application to renounce Islam and revert to Christianity, his original faith.

The 45-year-old man married a Muslim woman in 2010. However, the couple divorced in 2015.

In 2016, he filed an application in the shariah court to renounce Islam, but was ordered to attend “counselling sessions”.

The shariah court subsequently dismissed his renunciation application and ordered that he undergo further counselling sessions.

The man’s appeal to the shariah appeals court was also rejected.

He then turned to the civil courts seeking to nullify the decisions of the shariah court, and sought a declaration that he is entitled to profess Christianity, his original faith.

Delivering his decision today, Justice Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh ruled that the civil courts cannot review decisions made by the shariah courts.

Citing a similar ruling by the Court of Appeal made earlier this year, the judge said the appeals court had ruled that “the civil court clearly has no power to review a shariah court’s decision, let alone reverse, depart from or re-litigate (it)”.

“I am bound by the Court of Appeal’s decision. It (the shariah court’s decision) is non-justiciable,” he said.

The court made no order as to costs.

The man was represented by lawyers Fahri Azzat and Iqbal Harith Liang, while senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly appeared for the federal government.

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(End)

Teaching Hadith in Public schools?

https://fsspx.news/en/news-events/news/malaysia-new-islamic-module-public-schools-contested-85264

Information and Analysis on the Life of the Church

Malaysia: New Islamic Module in Public Schools Contested

6 Septemner 2023

An inter-religious organization, the Malaysian Advisory Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, and Taoism, has denounced the implementation of a new module by the Ministry of Education, which recommends the teachings of hadith in public schools across the country. The Council denounced this measure as unconstitutional.

In a statement, the organization said that the application of the module on “the 40 hadiths of Imam Al Nawawi” violates the religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution, because it espouses the Islamic way of life, according to the Malay Mail.

Imam Al Nawawi (1230-1277), religious dignitary, jurist, and Islamic scholar of Syrian origin, is the author of several works on the hadiths or collections of words and deeds from the Muslim oral tradition, which are read and practiced in many Islamic countries.

“Hadith is clearly part of the Islamic religion. There appears to be nothing in our Federal Constitution that allows such Islamic teachings in public schools. This can very well be implemented in Islamic religious schools,” the Council pointed out.

For the Council, the Federal Constitution authorizes each person to practice his own religion, and prevents him from being forced to take part in any worship or religious act other than his own. The implementation of the module on the 40 hadiths would transmit not only the values of Islamic teachings but also “the religious fundamentals” of Islam.

The Council noted that Article 3(1) of the Constitution states that “Islam is the religion of the federation,” while clarifying that this is only in reference to Islamic rituals and ceremonies. “It does not concern Islam seen as a universal concept, because it is generally understood as an integral system of life,” the interfaith organization continued.

The group also pointed out that Article 12 (2) of the Constitution specifies that “every religious group has the right to establish and maintain institutions for the education of children according to its own religion: the 40 hadiths can be taught in Islamic schools, but in public schools it would be unconstitutional,” the Council insisted.

Furthermore, Article 12 (3) says that “no person may be compelled to receive instructions or to take part in any act of worship or in any ceremony of a religion other than his own.” Thus, the Constitution “protects persons, including students, against any religious instruction other than their own.”

The Council concluded that the government and the Minister of Education must act in accordance with the Federal Constitution: “a national school must be a place where unity is fostered, and not to introduce policies that create division.”

Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country of 34 million people. Muslims make up nearly 63.5% of the population, with 18.7% Buddhists, 9.1% Christians, 6.1% Hindus and about 9% other religious groups (animists, Confucians, Taoists, Sikhs, Baha'is, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormons).

In recent times, extremist groups and Islamist political parties have increasingly pushed for the imposition of a strong Islamic identity in the country. Thus, the Malaysian Islamic Party, a conservative Islamist party, became a major political force after the 2022 elections and the 2023 parliamentary elections.

(Sources : Missions Etrangères de Paris/Ucanews/cath.ch – FSSPX.Actualités)
Illustration : Photo 187230013 © Akulamatiau | Dreamstime.com

(End)

Malaysian bishop of Indian descent

https://aleteia.org/2023/09/18/bishop-sebastian-francis-a-new-cardinal-for-malaysia/

18 September 2023

Bishop Sebastian Francis, a new cardinal for Malaysia

The Malaysian bishop of Indian descent, a strong advocate of intercultural and interreligious dialogue, is only the second cardinal in the country’s history.

“There goes my privacy, personal freedom, and liberty.” This was the first reaction of Malaysian bishop Sebastian Francis, one of the two Asian cardinals in the forthcoming consistory, on learning of his appointment to the cardinalate on July 9. Unsurprisingly, it made headlines in the English-language press.

The 71-year-old Archbishop of Penang, a state bordering the Strait of Malacca, is of Indian descent and is a strong advocate of intercultural and interreligious dialogue.

Son of migrants

The grandson of Indian immigrants from Kerala, Sebastian Francis was born into a large family in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on November 11, 1951. After studying at the seminaries of Singapore and Penang, he received priestly ordination for the Diocese of Malacca-Johor on July 28, 1977. He then obtained a degree in dogmatic theology at St. Thomas Aquinas University in Rome and Maryknoll School of Theology in New York. Posteriorly he was a spiritual director and formator at the seminary from 1991 to 1998. 

In 2003, Fr. Sebastian Francis was appointed Vicar General of the Diocese of Malacca-Johor. Pope Benedict XVI then appointed him Bishop of Penang on July 7, 2012. The episcopal ordination of the new bishop, whose motto is “Thy will be done,” took place on August 21, 2012. The event was attended by 10,000 Catholics, reported the local press at the time. 

Since 2017, Bishop Francis has been president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei. Last February, he was appointed president of the Office of Social Communications (OSC) of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), responsible in particular for managing Radio Veritas Asia. In this capacity, he is working to increase China’s participation in the FABC. “China is at home in Malaysia, and Malaysia is at home with the Chinese language and culture,” he tells Crux. This geopolitical position suggests he could be a future partner for the Holy See in its rapprochement with Beijing. 

A champion of interfaith dialogue 

Highly committed to dialogue between cultures and religions, he was also vice-president of the Malaysian Consultative Council for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST). In his country, where the state religion is Sunni Islam — 60% of the population — the future cardinal refuses to describe Catholics as a “minority.” In an interview on the Missions Étrangères de Paris (“Paris Foreign Missions”) website, he says that “divisions between majority and minority, liberal and conservative, or right and left are not appropriate in the Asian context.” 

He comments that as a cardinal he wants to “get down to the realities on the ground.” Among the major events in his diocese, he asked Rome to elevate St. Anne’s Church in Bukit Mertajam — founded in 1846 by French missionaries from the Missions Étrangères de Paris — to the status of minor basilica, the first in the region. The aim, he explained, was “to honor the pilgrims of all nationalities, religions, beliefs, races, and cultures who gather here.” The site, also known as the Shrine of Harmony, attracts 250,000 Catholics and non-Catholics each year for the July 26 pilgrimage. 

The future Cardinal Francis is also a promoter of the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, co-signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in February 2019. “This document always helps to break the ice” with representatives of other religions, he says.

Malaysia’s only elector in a conclave

Regarding the Synod on the future of the Church, the cardinal-designate shows a Bergoglian approach, advocating the study even of “burning issues” without being “afraid of anyone’s agendas.”

In the event of a conclave, the cardinal-designate will be Malaysia’s only elector. He is only the second Malaysian cardinal in history, after Cardinal Anthony Soter Fernandez, who was created in 2016 and died in 2020. His appointment was also widely celebrated in India, where they value the fact that the prelate still has family in Chennai, in the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu.

(End)

Islam wins, Christianity lost!

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/09/21/high-court-rejects-womans-bid-for-judicial-review-to-leave-islam-and-return-to-christianity/92081

High Court rejects woman's bid for judicial review to leave Islam and return to Christianity

by R. Loheswar

21 September 2023

Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Shahid in delivering his decision said the judicial review falls within the Shariah Courts and agreed with the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) that only the Islamic courts can handle such matters. — Bernama pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 — The High Court has rejected the application for judicial review by a Malaysian woman seeking to renounce Islam and return to Christianity.

Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Shahid in delivering his decision said the judicial review falls within the Shariah Courts and agreed with the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) that only the Islamic courts can handle such matters.

He said the applicant had entered Islam in 2017 and despite her requests to the Kuala Lumpur Registrar of Muallaf (ROM) to remove her name from the registrar as she no longer believed in Islam, it was still a matter for the Shariah Courts.

“The ultimate subject matter of the applicant falls clearly in the jurisdiction of the Shariah Court. Therefore by virtue of Article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution, the subject matter of the application is not amenable to judicial review and leave for judicial review should be refused by this court,” he said.

The 26-year-old woman converted to Islam to marry her then boyfriend who was a Malay Muslim on August 18, 2017. Their relationship ended before the wedding and now she wants to return to being a Christian.

She is seeking declarations that the Shariah Courts do not have the jurisdiction under the Administration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Act 1993, also known as Act 505, to cancel her status as a Muslim but rather the Registrar of Muallaf (ROM) who oversees Muslim converts.

She also argued that Section 91 of Act 505 is unconstitutional as it states that those who embrace Islam are Muslim for life, adding that this provision is in conflict with Article 11(1) of the Federal Constitution, which provides that every person has the right to profess and practise his religion and, subject to Clause (4), to propagate it.

In addition, she also said that Section 85(1) of Act 505 is unconstitutional as it states that those who utter the kalimah syahadah — the declaration of belief for Islam — automatically become Muslim, but the provision does not state that those who do so must believe in the religion.

The three respondents named in the judicial review application are the Federal Territories ROM, the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP) and the government of Malaysia.

The woman was represented by Iqbal Harith Liang from Messrs Fahri, Azzat & Co who requested no charges be laid upon his client as it was a public matter.

The federal counsel was Muhammad Salehuddin Md Ali who acted for the three respondents. He requested RM5,000 arguing that it was her personal request to leave Islam and that just because the media got wind of it, it shouldn't be considered a public matter.

Judge Ahmad set the costs at RM3,000.

(End)

Interfaith group in Malaysia always says the same

(https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2023/03/18/no-need-for-blanket-ban-on-church-temple-visit-says-interfaith-group/)

No need for blanket ban on church, temple visit, says interfaith group

The group says under the constitution, without any propagation involved, the act of visiting a non-Muslim house of worship was not an offence.

FMT Reporters 

18 March 2023

PETALING JAYA: An interfaith group has called on the government and Islamic authorities not to impose a blanket ban on Muslims from visiting non-Muslim places of worship.

Instead, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) suggested that authorities make it clear that there should not be any attempts to propagate other faiths to Muslims.

The council was responding to the Selangor government’s recent move in prohibiting Muslims from entering non-Muslim houses of worship.

Selangor religious affairs exco Zawawi Ahmad Mughni was reported to have said that while Selangor welcomed programmes organised by NGOs to foster tolerance, such activities should adhere to guidelines set by the Selangor Islamic religious department (Jais).

He added that Jais will monitor and take action against those who violate this rule under Sections 5 and 6 of the Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment.

However, MCCBCHST said these programmes aim to foster an understanding of different cultures and involve zero propagation of religion.

It also said that the enactment cited by Zawawi was enacted under Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution which only prohibits the propagation of any religious doctrine or belief among persons professing the religion of Islam.

The group said if there was no propagation of other faiths to Muslims, then there would be no offence committed.

“Therefore, the mere act of visiting a (non-Muslim) house of worship cannot be an offence,” it said in a statement.

Two days ago, former religious affairs minister Zulkifli Al-Bakri – who had visited churches, temples and gurdwaras in the past – called for guidelines on visits to houses of worship to　 foster greater harmony among Malaysians.

（End）

Pastor abducted by Malaysian police

Regarding this article, please refer to my previous posting dated 15 November 2017 (https://itunalily2.hatenablog.com/entry/20171115).  (Lily)

(https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/pastor-abducted-by-malaysian-police-still-missing-after-six-years/)

Pastor abducted by Malaysian police still missing after six years

By Diana Chandler, (Baptist Press, senior writer)

 13 February 2023 

 PETALING JAYA, Malaysia (BP) – Leavell College Dean Greg Wilton met Malaysian pastor Raymond Koh about a decade before police abducted Koh in an effort to quash his Christian ministry.

On the sixth anniversary of Koh’s Feb. 13, 2017, abduction, Wilton is among many praying and advocating for the pastor’s release.

“I highlight his abduction and disappearance every year on social media,” Wilton told Baptist Press. “It’s important that I never forget my friend. It’s also important that his family knows there are others out there who have not gotten over it. We shouldn’t be making heroes and celebrities in our faith, especially the kind that take our eyes off Jesus.

“However, there are rare individuals, of whom the world is not worthy, who do nothing to detract from Jesus and who do everything to bring Jesus all praise, glory and honor,” Wilton said. “Pastor Raymond is one of those rare individuals.”

Koh was driving along a highway in Petaling Jaya when three SUVs impeded his path, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reported, based on close-caption television security footage of the crime. Fifteen masked men pulled him away and stole his car in the 40-second scene, this version posted on YouTube by Voice of the Martyrs (VOM). He was 64 and hasn’t been seen or heard from since the abduction.

Koh ran a nonprofit ministry helping people living with HIV/AIDs, recovering addicts and single mothers and children. Islamic authorities once investigated him over allegations he was working to convert Muslims to Christianity, among other outreaches.

USCIRF, Voice of the Martyrs, Open Doors, International Christian Concern and the Jubilee Campaign are among groups that have advocated for Koh’s release.

VOM spokesperson Todd Nettleton said the pastor has been missing far too long, especially for Koh’s wife and children.

“For Susanna and the Koh family, it’s been six years, waking up every morning wondering what happened to Pastor Raymond, wondering where he is, how he is,” Nettleton said. “I, and many other Christians around the world, have been inspired by Susanna’s grace and faithfulness through these years. I pray God will continue to bless and sustain her and their family.

“And to the Malaysian government,” Nettleton said, “I join my voice with thousands of others calling for a full and transparent accounting of what happened to Pastor Raymond Koh and other victims of forced disappearance.”

Wilton, who planned to lead students in praying for Koh, encourages fellow Southern Baptists to pray for Koh.

“Southern Baptists should pray constantly for Pastor Raymond and for persecuted Christians around the world. The greatest thing a Southern Baptist can do is to pray for our brothers and sisters around the world,” Wilton said. “They are our brothers and sisters in Christ. To not think of them in this way is a clear violation of God’s expectation for his church to function as the family of God.”

Wilton first met Koh while in college and reconnected with him in 2013 when he moved to Southeast Asia.

“He loved Jesus. He loved and served anyone. He lived humbly. He believed wholeheartedly that Jesus is worthy,” Wilton said. “When I think of Pastor Raymond, I’m reminded of the many persecuted Christians around the world who don’t even have the chance to receive glory and recognition for themselves. Yet, even if they could, the Pastor Raymonds of this world wouldn’t dare do such a thing because they know all glory belongs to Christ.”

Sunni Muslims are the religious majority in Malaysia, but even they must adhere to strict, state-approved interpretation of Islam, USCIRF reported. In its 2023 Global Prayer Guide, VOM deems Malaysia one of 41 restricted countries where Christians face governmental and societal persecution. Open Doors lists Malaysia 43^rd on its 2023 World Watch List of the most difficult places for Christians to live, citing Islamic oppression.

Koh is among 1,934 persons of various faiths USCIRF classifies as victims of freedom of religion or belief, including those still held, those released, those whose fate is unknown and seven who died in custody.

（End）