Name:
Location: Irvine, California, United States

E-mail Me

My Blog Profile

Technorati search

    WWW
    ...in the outer...

My Amazon Wish List

    Search Now:

Subscribe

Help fuel my writing dream...

My Bloglines Subs & Stuff

    Listed by category are subscriptions to blogs I monitor and read. Check them out!

    Note: Sites listed by this blog does not imply endorsement of anything except when they promote this site.

Other Cool Sites I Visit

Recommended for your Library


    Ethics: The Heart of Leadership

    Edited by Joanne Ciulla. An important collection of essays by philosophers, leadership and management thinkers considering the role of ethics in leadership


    Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness

    By Robert K. Greenleaf, Larry C. Spears, Stephen R. Covey. Servant and leader--can these two roles be fused in one real person in all levels of status and calling?


    Warranted Christian Belief

    By Alvin Plantinga. Third in a trilogy of works on the issue of warrant - the basis of the rationality of Christian beliefs written by arguably the most important philosopher of religion alive today


    Renovation of the Heart

    By Dallas Willard. A philosopher and quintessential Christian teacher relates and reflects on what it means to put on the character of Christ.


    Foreign Bodies

    By Hwee Hwee Tan. An impressive first novel by young new author from Singapore acclaimed as an up and coming Pulitzer Prize winner


    Mammon Inc.

    By Hwee-Hwee Tan. Second novel by this very important young new author from Singapore applauded the world over, including The Times in London and the New York Times


    Three Philosophies of Life

    By Peter Kreeft. Three life philosophies presented through the works of three of Scriptures most beautiful poetry books, Job, Ecclesiastes and Songs of Solomon


    Horrendous Evil and the Goodness of God

    By Marilyn McCord-Adams. A seminal response to the age-old problem of evil which attempts to take seriously the theological ramifications of the character of God


    Blink

    By Malcolm Gladwell. Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant.


    Smart Mobs

    By Howard Rheingold. A social commentary about how "sophisticated mobile Internet access is allowing people who don't know each other to act in concert".


    Linked

    By Albert-Laszlo Barabasi. An engaging treatise about the fundamentals of interconnectedness and complexity that underlies neurology, epidemiology, Internet traffic, and many other fields.


    The Peaceable Kingdom

    By Stanley Hauerwas. A clear explication of a Christian ethic based upon the meaning of the gospel, highlighting virtues and character, and narrative as a mode of ethical reflection.


    The Goldsworthy Trilogy: Gospel & Kingdom, Gospel & Wisdom, Gospel & Revelation

    By Graeme Goldsworthy. A collection of masterful works expositing on the centrality of the Scriptures: the gospel of Jesus Christ.


    Grace and Law: St. Paul, Kant, and the Hebrew Prophets

    By Heinz Cassirer. A Kantian scholar looks at the Old Testament Law, and Paul's understanding of it, concluding that Kant's delimma is answered by the gospel of grace.

The Un-Right Christians

Progressive Christian Blogger Network

Church Directory of Evangelical Blogs

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Islamic Government Providing Land for Christian Church?

I found this interesting story from the latest entry on Messy Christian's blog. It seems the State government of Terengganu, a predominantly Islamic state, is going to consider issuing a parcel of land for the Anglican Church to build a Church building. What is interesting about this is that the State of Terengganu is very staunchly Islamic, one that, for instance, have their weekly day of rest on Friday to coincide with the Muslim day of corporate worship. This has forced some Christian churches to hold their weekly services also on Friday, while others to have their weekly corporate worship services on Sunday evenings. I alluded to this state of affairs in a recent post about the Sabbath.

Apparently, there are only nine churches in Kuala Terengganu, the capital of the state, and none of those churches have their own purpose-built buildings. They meet on the second or third floor of "shophouses," and although the Anglican church has applied for land over the past half a century, it has been turned down, the government citing various reasons for doing so. It is interesting that the government is going to look into the matter and at least consider the application.

If the government were to give the church the land, it would not have been the first time that an Islamic government in Malaysia have been involved in assisting the building of churches in Malaysia.

In 1980, as I was traveling in Sarawak on a short term mission trip, I was intrigued by the observation that at every longhouse village up and down the Miri River, there was one new building, usually brightly painted, and located prominently in the middle of the village. It was noticeable that these buildings were the local church building, so I made a comment to my host that I noticed the church buildings in every single village was the largest, newest and most well kept building of the village. My host's comments to me were enlightening: "Oh, that is because in the last elections, when the government was soliciting for their votes, they asked them what was the most critical needs of the community, and promised to build new hospitals, schools or even roads. But all they requested for were new church buildings. So, after the election, the government (which is Islamic), kept their promises and built them all new churches."

Incredible.

I wonder what would happen if this happens here in the US? Would the ACLU cry foul? And, what would happen if the government were to assist in building Buddhist temples and other religious houses on worship based on the same reasons? Would Christians decry the subversion of the gospel by our governmental leaders? (Think about Bush's faith-based programs and how Christians react to stories of the program benefiting organizations not particularly "Christian").