Malaysian interfaith Council against Bible course advertised outside a Muslim prayer hall
Christian Churches take the same stand after a video that could be used to create new tensions went viral. For interfaith council, “religious groups should be ethical when propagating their faith,” and respect the house of worship of others.
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) – The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, and Taoism has urged a Surau (prayer hall) committee in Malacca (Melaka) to file a complaint with police against an unidentified group promoting a free Bible course outside its premises.
Such action could be exploited politically in a country that cannot afford more religious misunderstandings after the recent issue of socks with the word Allah written on them.
The Interfaith Council, in a statement, said it is wrong for any religious group to propagate its beliefs outside the house of worship of another faith. Council President Tan Hoe Chieow said that religious groups should follow an ethic of respecting others in propagating their faith.
The case became public after a 16-second video was posted on social media and began spreading around the country. It shows a small group of people sitting and standing near a book trolley with a sign that reads "Free Bible Course”.
Tan speculates that those involved may belong to some "deviant sect" since the country's traditional Churches do not break the country's laws by proselytising among Muslims.
He called on Churches and Christian leaders to identify the group.
“While the federal constitution provides the right to profess and practice any religion, it is prohibited to propagate other religions to Muslims,” Tan explained.
Cassel Krishnan, a leading member of Democratic Action Party (DAP), strongly condemned the promotion of free Bible classes outside a surau, calling the incident irresponsible, but also warned against politicising the incident.
“Respect and tolerance are not optional, they are imperative,” Krishnan said, adding that “Churches and Christian groups in Malacca have always been prudent and wise when conducting their activities in public.”
Malacca City was the gateway through which the first seeds of the Gospel were brought to the Malay Peninsula by the Portuguese conquerors in the 16th century. After them came the Dutch.
While Terengganu is said to hold the earliest evidence of the coming of Islam in the Malay Peninsula, Malacca in the 14th century was an important trading centre and a regional bastion of Islam due to the many Muslim traders who proselytised to locals.
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