AMSTERDAM (Agencies)
A Roman Catholic Bishop in the Netherlands proposed on Monday that people of all faiths refer to God as Allah to promote understanding, stoking an already heated debate on religious tolerance in a country with one million Muslims.
"Allah is a very beautiful word for God, shouldn't we all say that from now on we will name God Allah? ... What does God care what we call him? It is our problem," Bishop Martinus Muskens said.
He also pointed out that "Allah" is a term already used by Christians who speak Arabic and added that humans are needlessly divided over such terminology.
Muskens spent eight years in Indonesia 30 years ago and said that Christian priests used the word "Allah" while celebrating Mass in Indonesia, adding that God is above such "bickering."
The Dutch bishop admitted that his suggestion was not likely to gain widespread acceptance. But he predicted that within a century or two, Dutch Catholics would be addressing prayers to "Allah."
In 2005, Muskens offended many Muslims when he said Islam was a religion without a future because it had too many violent aspects.
A spokesman from the union of Moroccan mosques in Amsterdam said Muslims had not asked for such a gesture.
A survey in the Netherlands' biggest-selling newspaper De Telegraaf on Wednesday found 92 percent of the more than 4,000 people polled disagreed with the bishop's view, which also drew ridicule.
"Sure. Let's call God Allah. Lets then call a church a mosque and pray five times a day. Ramadan sounds like fun," Welmoet Koppenhol wrote in a letter to the newspaper.
Gerrit de Fijter, chairman of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, told the paper he welcomed any attempt to "create more dialogue", but added: "Calling God 'Allah' does no justice to Western identity. I see no benefit in it."
Some Dutch Muslims welcomed his comments as a valuable gesture of support coming just days after Wilders branded the Quran a "fascist book" in the vein of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" which legitimizes violence. |
