Who Calls the Shots?

Human Rights & Religious Rights - Who calls the shots really? Is there really such a thing as human rights or religious rights? In today's postmodern world, such rights are relative; the governing bodies call the shots. You can end up with rights that have become useless; just a front to show that you deserve some form of (controlled) recognition.

Take for example, the recent case of Malaysian authorities confiscating 15000 Bibles because those Bibles use the word "Allah" to describe God.

The government, which is dominated by Muslim Malays, claims that the word Allah is Islamic and that its use in Bibles could upset Muslims. So are the authorities saying Muslims have been happy with the usage of "Allah" in the Bible for decades but now they have the potential to get upset? Or is it because the authorities are really the ones upset? (or is it more likely a case of "showing of care & concern" to garner some brownie points and the favour of the Muslim community?)

Anyway, the word "Allah" is the Arabic word for God and Arab Christians have been using it for centuries even before Islam was founded. Just do a wiki search or a read up of History books for it.

Coming back to these Rights issues with a religious tinge to it, Switzerland and Italy had some recent issues regarding Islamic minarets and Crucifixes too. Read the full story of this issue at BBC UK News - Faith Diary: Whose God is Allah?