Posted By
kadosh777
2010-10-01T23:23:35
Malaysian Christians Face Threats, Worries<br />
By George Thomas<br />
CBN News Senior Reporter<br />
March 25, 2008<br />
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CBNNews.com - KUALA LUMPUR- Malaysia bills itself as a moderate Islamic country, but today powerful forces are trying to turn it into a fundamentalist Islamic state.<br />
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This has Malaysian Christians worried about the future of religious freedom.<br />
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"They forced me to renounce Christ but I said no way!" said Daniel, a Christian convert.<br />
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Daniel is a young Malaysian who has lived a secret and sometimes dangerous life.<br />
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"I've been threatened with death so many times by radical Muslims, but by the grace of God I'm still alive," he explained.<br />
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Daniel converted from Islam to Christianity in 1998.<br />
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"Under the Islamic laws of my country, the authorities can arrest me for my conversion," he said.<br />
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Malaysians attempting to leave Islam has become one of the most controversial issues in this country.<br />
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The debate erupted last year when Malaysia's highest court rejected a Muslim convert's battle to be legally recognized as a Christian.<br />
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Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, a well-known human rights lawyer and a Muslim, presented a brief in support of Ms Lina Joy's conversion case.<br />
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"It crystallized a legal basis to implement the kind of measures that we say are undermining the entire societal framework of this country," he said. "Lina Joy was a bad decision, a very, very bad decision."<br />
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A decision that forced Lina Joy to flee the country. Meanwhile, Sarwar's support for Joy made him a wanted m