They say ignorance is bliss.Is this a mixture of ignorance, stupidity and religious bigotry.I hope the police arrest those involved and deal with them severely.What they have done is dangerous and can cause religious upheaval for spreading falsehood.The government should take a serious view of this case and not be seen as taking it lightly and the magazine should be reprimanded or given a show cause.All right thinking Muslims should condemn this sort of behaviour.While we respect our own religion, we should also respect other religions.
These ignorant narrow-minded bigots either pretended not to know or are truly ignorant and stupid not to know that there are many East Malaysians who look Malays but of the Christian faith and some even have Muslim names but are Christians and sermons in churches in Sabah and Sarawak are usually conducted in Bahasa Melayu for those who can't speak English.
I will not write anymore on the subject as Khairy Jamaluddin has said enough in his article below.
Un-Islamic Al-Islam? | |
The actions of a journalist from Al-Islam magazine of going undercover to two Catholic Churches during Sunday mass, consuming and spitting the Holy Communion wafer - what Catholics believe to be the flesh of Christ himself - out of his mouth before photographing it, can only be described as appalling and offensive. As Leader of Barisan Nasional and UMNO Youth and as a Muslim, I have no reservations whatsoever in condemning this instance of unethical j ournalism, grounded in both disrespect and ignorance. Needless to say, these actions are contrary to the goal of an empathetic society that I have been promoting as a way for Malaysians to progress as a people from diverse backgrounds. Empathy requires sound appreciation of one another's unique cultures and sensitivities - it calls for us to consider the perspectives of others before acting in ways that may affect them. It also violates the Islamic injuction for empathy, plurality and respect, something made clear in the Holy Quran Surah Al-Hujarat, verse 13: "O Mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another". The Islamic virtues of empathy, respect and tolerance were obviously absent in both the journalist and the magazine's editorial team that sanctioned the publishing of the article and the methods employed to gather information over supposed cases of Muslims converting to Catholicism/Christianity. Everyone involved in the researching, writing and publishing this article should have considered the fact that Muslims already find it offensive when non-Muslims do not observe basic courtesies expected when in a mosque, like taking off shoes and covering heads. They should further imagine their own reactions if someone went undercover in their local mosques, pretend to worship as a Muslim and made a mockery of congregation prayer. I suspect Al-Islam failed to consider the fact that the gravity of their own actions were similar to this hypothetical situation where the sanctity of the Muslim place and act of worship are violated. And this is at the heart of the problems we face as a multi-cultural and multi-religious society - people simply do not stop to think about another community's legitimate interests and sensitivities by positioning themselves from another's perspective before acting. Read more... Here's a joke of being ignorant or being stupid.
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