Malaysia’s Crisis of Faith

Lina Joy’s fight to finalize her conversion from Islam to Christianity has been rejected by Malaysia’s highest court. TIME Magazine reports:

The Joy verdict, which will likely become a precedent for several other pending conversion cases, is seen by many in Malaysia as evidence of how religious politics are cleaving the nation, with a creeping Islamization undermining the rights of both non-Muslims and more moderate adherents to Islam.

Last November, at a party conference for the Muslim-dominated United Malays National Organization ruling party, one delegate vowed he would be willing to “bathe in blood” to defend his ethnicity — and, by extension, his religion. In several Malaysian states, forsaking Islam is a crime punishable by prison time.

Earlier this week, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who in December acknowledged that race relations in his homeland were “fragile,” hosted the World Islamic Economic Forum in Kuala Lumpur.

In an era where Islam is so often partnered with extremism and autocratic governance, Malaysia was held up at the annual conference as a model of a moderate Muslim nation committed to safeguarding the rights of its diverse population.

But the Federal Court’s verdict on Joy’s case, which represented her last legal recourse, may undercut that reputation. After all, is it complete religious freedom if a 42-year-old woman isn’t allowed to follow the faith of her choosing?

The Economist is even more damning in its judgement:

“EVERY person has the right to profess and practise his religion.”

Article 11 of Malaysia’s constitution could hardly be more definitive.

Yet Lina Joy, who has fought for nine years for the right to convert from Islam to Christianity, was told by the country’s Supreme Court on May 30th that the guarantee is worthless to her.

The court rejected her demand to have “Islam” removed as the religion stated on her official identity card. It ruled she first needed permission to leave the faith from the country’s separate sharia courts, which interpret traditional Muslim law.

These treat apostates as sinners to be punished, not individuals with a right to their own beliefs.

And last, but not least, The Boston Globe reports that Lina Joy has had it with Malaysia:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia –A woman who lost a court battle to change her religion from Islam to Christianity suggested she might leave Malaysia rather than stay without the right to practice the religion of her choice, her lawyer said Thursday.

Truly disgusting.