8 Arrested in Firebombing of Malaysian Churches

[Coventina]

Source: New York Times

BANGKOK — Eight men were arrested on Wednesday in Malaysia in connection with the firebombing of a Pentecostal church last month, one in a series of attacks that has targeted a dozen Christian churches, the police said.

The attacks followed a recent court ruling that struck down a government ban on the use of Allah to mean God in Malay-language Christian scriptures in this predominantly Muslim nation.

The word Allah had been used for centuries in Malay-language Bibles without major opposition either in Malaysia or in neighboring Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation.

The police said that the arrested men were ethnic Malays between 21 and 26 years old, all of whom lived near the Metro Tabernacle Church, which was badly damaged on the morning of Jan. 9.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/world/asia/21malay.html