How do you expect me to respect you as a person and the religion that you claim you profess when you so blatantly disrespect the Body of Christ that we Christians hold so sacred in our hearts? It is sacrilege of the utmost degree to desecrate the Host by spitting it out, take a photo of it and then put it up in your magazine for all to see. Did your religion not teach you to respect other people’s religions?
In response to this desecration, I implore my brothers and sisters in Christ to lodge their strongest protest with the authorities and the publisher of the magazine for this grave insult. At the same time, I also urge my brothers and sisters in Christ to keep their hearts open for forgiveness and pray for these lost souls to be enlightened of their errant ways. Having said that, I am also proud and blessed to count among my friends Muslims who respect my faith as much as I respect theirs.
Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.’ Then they cast lots to share out his clothing.
(Luke 23:34 NJB)
Blogs with related posts:
Screenshots – Do you read Al-Islam?
Dustyhawk :: Broken Mirror – Ravenous Religious Bigots
Read this, this and this for context.
Update:
Sunday March 7, 2010
Al-Islam apologises for hurting Christians’ feelings
KUALA LUMPUR: Al-Islam magazine has apologised over a special report last year for “unintentionally hurting the feelings of Christians, particularly Catholics”.
The apology was posted on the website of its publisher Utusan Karya on Friday.
It said in a three-paragraph statement that the report was to investigate allegations of apostasy and the actions of its journalists “were never intended to deride the Christian faith, let alone desecrate their house of worship”.
“The two reporters involved also tendered their apology for not realising that what they have done in the course of their assigment has offended the feelings of Christians. Al-Islam hopes that such a thing will not recur,” it said.
The magazine stated that the apology would be published in next month’s publication.
The report entitled Tinjauan Al-Islam Dalam Gereja — Mencari Kesahihan Remaja Melayu Murtad (Al-Islam’s investigation in the church — finding the truth on teenage Malay apostates) was published in its May 2009 issue, in which its journalists had posed as Christians and participated in a mass at the St Anthony’s Church in Jalan Robertson near Puduraya.
The reporters were said to have admitted to receiving the Holy Communion then spitting it out, an act Catholics consider a sacrilege.
Kuala Lumpur Archbishop Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam had on Thursday said the church would not pursue legal action against the magazine nor its reporters if a public apology was offered.
Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail had said stern action would not be in the interest of justice, peace and harmony at this particular time, adding that the reporters “did not know the significance of the white bread”.
Reverand Murphy said he was pleased with the quick response by the publishers, editors and authors.
“We accept their apology and extend our hand in peace. The Catholic community is now at peace following the apology. May God bless our country,” he said.
hi. i had also highlighted this in my blog… earlier than jeff ooi, since both joachim and stanley are my colleagues.
i am now gathering all the blogs that have highlighted this to link to my blog. famous blogs like susan loone and malaysia today had blog on it.
A total disregard for other religions.These idiots ( and I am using the kindest word here) insult other religions, call everybody else infidels but they should look from within themselves and ask themselves which religion cultivates warped zealots bent on blowing and killing God’s creation in the name of the God.
If the strength and belief in one’s religion is strong, then it shouldn’t sway with any form of persuasion.If it so prone that it needs to be protected which is what is being done now, then it begs reexamination of one’s conviction.
I believe that there should be mutual respect for other’s religious beliefs.If God is all powerful and knowing,let Him deal with his children who have erred.We were put on this earth to do good deeds to his other creations.
This is utterly deplorable. We should respect each other’s religion and not trash it. A friend of mine once told me that religion is not what you wear, it’s what you believe in. I guess they’re just worried that Christianity might sweep everyone off their feet. (Did you know that some of them wish to be in a different religion?)
We can only pray to God that they’ll – someday – respect our religion the way we respect theirs.
My 2 cents. Give them the benefit of the doubt. I dont think they realized what they were doing. They were not aware of the significance of the “wafer”. Probably thot that it is like the nuts given out by Hindu’s during their festival days, or mandarin’s during CNY.
They were just doin their job of getting a story for their magazine. Now if enough people make noise, they may then sell-out the who run, and call for a large print-run. Just ignore them, and let them suffer economic losses. I am asking that everyone literally turns the other cheek.
I have already said my piece, I don’t think I would need to repeat myself. I understand that the picture of the wafer may be sacrilegious to Catholics, but apart from that I really don’t see what the fuss is about. They were just doing their job and overall the story they wrote was positive about the Christian faith. I’ll bet that many of you who are bitching about this probably have not read it from the first sentence to the end.
– MENJ
Peter:
Defiling the Holy Communion is not insult enough to the Roman Catholics? If only you had taken the time to understand how much that rite means to us.
What would have happened if a person from another faith clandestinely went into a mosque with shoes on and started blaspheming the religion?What would be the reaction be like? That he was only an investigative reporter and that it was alright that he did something sacrilegious because his final report was OK?
If a person can be easily swayed by overzealous evangelists then I think he needs to relook the strength of his faith.
I know who I am,my purpose in life and no one especially evangelists can sway me to change my course. I just tell them to go fly a kite or give me a million bucks and I’ll consider!
Perhaps it was sacrilegious to you, the same way the publication of the Danish blasphemy cartoons on the Prophet Muhammad (P) was to us Muslims, and I can certainly sympathize with that. But that is still not sufficient cause for the outrage that I see currently among Catholics, to the extent of a police report. Why is the wafer the only focus of this whole ruckus and nothing is mentioned about the positive remarks in the said article?
Peter:
Just imagine serving pork in your place of worship. Enough said.
When there are differences of opinion, the final denominator always boils down to race and religion. Which is why there should be mutual respect and sensitivity for a person’s race and religion. I grew up in Malaysia at a time when a person’s race or religion did not matter.We were/are all good buddies.I am saddened that nowadays race and religion are always brought up whenever there are unresolved issues.For me,I don’t see a person for his colour,religion or the clothes he wears but if he has a good heart.