Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Malaysian Police Investigate Reporter's Activities In Attending Mass Under False Pretenses

In Malaysia, where causing religious disharmony can be prosecuted as a crime, police are investigating two Muslim men who attended a Roman Catholic mass as part of an investigative article published in the Malay-language Al-Islam magazine. AP today reports that the article was intended to investigate rumors that Muslim teenagers were being converted to Christianity. The author found no evidence of this, but has created controversy by indicating in the article that he and a friend hid their Muslim identities when attending. They took communion and photographed their partially-eaten communion wafer. A police complaint was filed by a Catholic man, and Rev. Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the Catholic publication, the Herald, said the men had "insulted the Christians" by their actions.