Of course, few if any serious religious believers of any tradition would agree that "all religions are equally true and equally good." The problem here is that while this Malaysian government entity says that "national unity should be nurtured by encouraging the uniqueness of each religious tradition and simultaneously encouraging the attitude of mutual goodwill, mutual empathy and mutual love as fellow neighbours and fellow human beings," on the ground the situation is not so rosy. Muslims have special legal rights that non-Muslims do not have, which indicates yet again that all too often, when Islamic spokesmen speak about harmony and mutual respect among religions, they do not mean that all religious believers should enjoy equal legal rights.
"Press Statement Institute Of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM) on Religious Pluralism," from the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia, December 15 (thanks to Rose):
The Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM) wishes to clarify that:Firstly, Islam rejects religious pluralism which claims that all religions are equally true and equally good.
Secondly, only one religion possesses the perfect and complete revelation, that is, Islam (see the Qur'an, Al-Maidah, 5:3)....
Fourthly, national unity should be nurtured by encouraging the uniqueness of each religious tradition and simultaneously encouraging the attitude of mutual goodwill, mutual empathy and mutual love as fellow neighbours and fellow human beings who originate from one living entity despite their religious differences....
WOW. i wonder if this will make it into the USIP interfaith programs being conducted in the US (under the supervision, of course, of the mosque, and with a few Catholics, Mennonites and Methodists for appearances sake)
"...national unity should be nurtured by encouraging the uniqueness of each religious tradition and simultaneously encouraging the attitude of mutual goodwill, mutual empathy and mutual love as fellow neighbours ...."
Right! The Malaysian government nurtured the Sky Kingdom religion by sending in troops to bulldoze and burn its temple, imprison dozens of its members, and drive its leader into exile. Not very much encouragement of THAT religious tradition!
THE INSTITUTE FOR ISLAMIC UNDERSTANDING is a preposterous name for this group of double talkers. POINTS ONE AND TWO negate all the rest of this politically correct bs. The only respect muslims have is for Islam and nothing else, and they will KILL you if you disagree!
It's not possible in the long run to reverence one thing and serve another. A belief system which eulogizes the values of its adversaries, erecting those values into exalted objects of admiration must, in the long run, convert moral effort into a conscious pose, into mere prancing stage heroics.
Don't forget the demolition of ancient Hindu temples back in 2006 and 2007. Worshippers were assaulted, dragged from the temples, and their religious artifacts smashed..
http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2006/1781/
These greasy Islamophobes must have never heard of the authoritative Islamic scholarship of imams Kunde, Rauf, and Zayed.
Malaysia done it again, woohoo!
I guess bigger the lie, the better. To call that Quranic gibberish "perfect and complete" is so outlandish that any one with an ounce of reason shakes her head and walks away. However, we should not just walk away. We should challenge them and expose the lies, by opening the Quran to public scrutiny.