God by any other name..?

[Whickerman]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8065597. stm

A Catholic church in Malaysia which prays to Allah has prompted a court case over who can use the word.

Muslim leaders say Islam should be the only faith to use it, saying its use in other faiths could lead to confusion and conversions.

So the question - should one faith have a legal right to address their god by a name to the exclusion of others? Given that all of the Abrahamic faiths - Hebrew, Islamic and Christian - all claim to worship the same deity, what is the problem?

[Lonnie]

The Maltese are staunch Catholics, and their name for God is Allah, Admittedly, they do have a history thats liked to past Arab conquerers, but still, they are Catholics.

[beso]

The Jews obviously saw this one coming and have a word for God that is supposedly unable to be spoken.

Legally both God and Allah would be considered to already be in general use and are therefore not able to be registered as trademarks.

The JWs will probably be OK because nobody is likely to want their god to be confused with Jehovah.

Personally I prefer a conjunction of both names. G from the Christian God and alah from the muslim.

It is mere coincidence that a galah is a noisy Australian native bird also used as a term to describe a stupid person. Honest..

[beso]

There are also moslems that believe in Jesus. Not sure if it is the same ones but there are those who believe that Jesus will be resurrected on his second coming and convert to Islam.

[Whickerman]

galah... loves it

[naomi24]

Hi Whicker, No, one faith should not have that legal right. If it wasn't so pathetic, it would be quite funny. How ridiculous!