Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra: After 'Allah' Bibles Seized, Leader Tells 2,500 Churches To Resist Malaysia's Muslim Police

Debate over Christians' right to refer to God as 'Allah' results in first-ever raid.

The leader of Malaysia's evangelicals says Muslim religious authorities had no right to confiscate more than 300 Bibles from the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) last week.

The incident, the latest in the ongoing debate over whether Christians in Southeast Asia have the right to refer to God as Allah, was the first-ever government raid of the nation's Christian community.

"Christians therefore have the right to deny entry to any religious department officer who requests entry into a meeting at a house, church premise, or any private property used for Christian worship and activities," wrote Eugene Yapp, secretary-general for the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF), in an advisory to the nation's nearly 2,500 evangelical churches.

If police have no warrant but force their way in, church leaders should stand aside for their own safety but try to record the raid on video and inform the media as soon as possible, the advisory said. Keep reading

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