Malaysian Customs Seizes Christian Study Group's Bibles

Yet another example of the persecution of Christians in Malaysia, on the heels of the confiscation of children's books for illustrations showing Biblical prophets such as Abraham and Moses. This time, the victim was a woman returning from a trip to the Philippines with 32 English-language Bibles for a study group. Customs officials at the Kuala Lumpur airport seized the Bibles and told her that all religious materials had to be sent to the Internal Security Ministry's publications control unit for clearance.

Rev. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia, said that he had never before heard of anyone being told to do this when bringing English-language Bibles into the country.

Rev. Shastri has said that the situation for Christians in Malaysia has gone:

"from bad to worse. This either points to a concerted effort to undermine the current practice of religious tolerance, or the religious enforcement authorities have been given a free hand and they are having a field day."

In a statement, the Council of Churches called on Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badaw to publicly reassure Christians of their rights, and urged authorities to release the Bibles and issue a formal apology.

This kind of persecution is absolutely outrageous! The U.S. provides millions of dollars annually in aid to Malaysia- shouldn't we be putting more pressure on the Abdullah government to reign in the Islamofascist zealots?