Islam: The Religion of Nutjobs (Word-Games Division)

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.

"Holy Mary, Mother of God . . . ." That's the best we can do in English, even if it sometimes requires a bit of explanation for our Protestant friends. No, not mother of God the Father, not mother of God the Holy Spirit, but most assuredly mother of God the Son, Jesus Christ. The original Greek, used by the Council of Ephesus (as well as by Athanasius, John Chrysostom, and Augustine) is Θεοτόκος or "Theotokos."

Our problem today is not translation of Theotokos to Mater Dei to Mother of God. The problem is translation into a language which has no indigenous word for God. Malay is such a language. It includes no word for the monotheistic notion of "One God."

Not to worry: Malay-speakers, first introduced to this concept by Muslim traders in the 12th Century, adopted the Arabic word: "Allah." As it happens, "Allah" predates Islam -- the father of Muhammad was named ‘Abdallāh, meaning servant or slave of Allah, that is, God.

Now, nine centuries later, Muslim Malaysians appear to be claiming that use of the world "Allah" by non-Muslims is offensive, or forbidden, or disrespectful, or something-or-other. "For non-Muslims to use this word is an unnecessary provocation," according to Faisal Aziz, president of the National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students. This in response to a decision by the Malaysian Supreme Court that it was permissible for the Roman Catholic Malay language newspaper to use the term "Allah" to refer to God.

There have been protests and cyber-attacks and whatnot but, most recently, the peaceful Islamists have turned to their argument of choice: violence. Five Christian churches in Malaysia have been torched.

Having a religion that permits you to do evil things in pursuit of perceived good things would be very convenient at times, don't you think?

Much more HERE.