Malaysia: Church officials told to remove crucifixes and avoid hymn singing when Prime Minister attended Archbishop's Christmas party

I clicked on the link and read the whole article.

It tells us that 'Grace was said before Najib turned up' and

"There were two groups of carollers serenading the crowd – one from Africa, the other a local outfit – but the guests were too caught up in their chatter and did not appear to be paying them any attention".

"It's not exactly a Christmas party when you're forced to remove Christ from it. Can muslums celebrate ramadong without a crescent or quran or kneeling to their moon god?"

That's funny. I didn't realize it was a moon god. I always thought is was a god that resided somewhere in the netherworld since Muslims always pray with their nose to the ground and their butts in the air.

"Did the church officials comply with the demands?"

Just what I was wondering, Tom. Were I the responsible Church official, I would have written the Prime Minister's aides a note expressing the Archbishop's regrets that the PM would not be attending. Perhaps next year, eh?

At DDA's admonition (yes I was multitasking and didn't read the article - she caught me), I did finally read it. I got the impression that the event was in an outdoor setting (large tent?) and there was not much in the way of Christian religious symbols present, if any. So it would seem that the Church may have anticipated criticism, went out of their way to avoid it, and got it anyway.

Katharina

thanks for telling us that, awful though it is. We could have guessed it, but it's interesting to hear from someone who's *lived* it.

Your best postings are when you share information from your own experience and tell us what things are like in your part of the world (SE Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia).

OT : since you identify yourself as a female convert from Islam, here are a few books you might like to track down (you ought to be able to buy them online, maybe second-hand). They are all the personal stories of women who left Islam and became Christians. You might find them encouraging and helpful.

The Imam's Daughter, by Hannah Shah (she was born to a Muslim family in Britain, but ultimately escaped Islam - and her very abusive father - and converted to Christianity).

I Dared to Call Him Father - by Bilquis Sheikh.

The Torn Veil - by sister Gulshan Esther (this is a truly lovely book).

Now They Call Me Infidel - by Nonie Darwish, founder of 'Former Muslims United' (have you visited their website?).

'Hannah' was born and brought up in the UK, living in an immigrant Muslim home; Bilquis and Gulshan were both in Pakistan (they were driven out and threatened by their families when their conversion became known, and ultimately had to flee Pakistan); Nonie was born and brought up in Egypt and lived there till she was 30; she married a Coptic Christian man who in order to protect them both from sharia-pushing assassins, pretended to convert to Islam; they migrated to the USA and in the USA Nonie gradually freed herself from Islam and ultimately chose to become a Christian.