[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 620-621]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE IN MALAYSIA

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, the Malaysian Government recently seized 
Christian children's books written in English because they contained 
illustrations of Bible prophets Moses and Abraham, an alleged violation 
of Islamic Shariah law.
  The Malaysian Government's publications and ``Religious Enforcement 
Police'' found that the images of Bible characters in the Christian 
books offended the sensitivities of Muslims and must be banished.
  Malaysian Prime Minister Badawi indicated other religions must 
understand that Islam is the true religion for Malaysia.
  The government's ``midnight raid'' on these books infringes on the 
basic human right of religious freedom, a right which ironically is 
protected in the Malaysian constitution, but nonexistent under Islamic 
Shariah law. This is yet another example of the problems with a State 
religion.
  Ghandi once said, ``If we are to respect others' religions as we 
would have them respect ours, a study of the

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world's religions is a sacred duty.'' The Malaysian government expects 
all religions to be tolerant of the Islamic religion, but 
hypocritically is intolerant of the Christian faith.
  And that's just the way it is.

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