KUALA LUMPUR — Thousands of Malaysian Christians came out for weekly services Sunday despite three new attacks in a campaign of fire-bombings that has sent tensions soaring in the Muslim-majority nation.
Two more churches and a Catholic convent school were targeted early Sunday, police said, although no one was injured.
Molotov cocktails were thrown at the All Saints Church and the school in Taiping, in the northern state of Perak, and a bottle of kerosene was found in another church nearby before Sunday services.
Six churches have now been attacked since Friday in an escalating row over the use of the word "Allah" as a translation for the Christian God by non-Muslims.
Islamic groups have staged protests in response to a court ruling last week that gave a Catholic newspaper the right to print the word following a long-running dispute with the government over the issue.
The government has appealed against the ruling, a marked contrast to countries like Indonesia, Egypt and Syria where Christian minorities freely use the Arabic word to refer to God.
"I think that people’s faith is greater than what’s happening around so they continue to go to church and pray for themselves as well as for the nation," Council of Churches secretary-general Hermen Shastri said.
"But of course we are not blind to potential threats so churches have taken measures to increase security around their compounds, and (are) trusting the police and other enforcement agencies to keep a lookout for any suspicious individuals."
About 1,000 worshippers at the Catholic Church of Assumption in Kuala Lumpur, one of four in the Malaysian capital targeted by the arsonists, were briefed by parish priest Phillips Muthu on the incident and told to be patient.
"I told them we don’t want to blame any people, any quarter, any religion. We are peaceful and we are here to offer our prayer for the nation," he told reporters at the church, where a fire-bomb damaged part of the grounds.
"Of course we are afraid after the incident, but life has to go on."
Deputy natural resources and environment minister Joseph Kurup, who was at the church with his family, urged the Catholic community to remain calm and let the authorities investigate.
One worshipper who only wanted to be identified as Lee said reactions to the court ruling from sections of the Muslim community had been "quite shocking".
"But I think the majority of Malaysians are still peace-loving and we should have dialogue to resolve this," she said.
A police car was stationed outside the nearby Protestant Life Chapel church, which had a Molotov cocktail thrown into its porch, and volunteers stood guard and checked worshippers’ cars.
The 1,000-strong congregation of the Metro Tabernacle church, the worst damaged in the attacks, moved its service to a hall offered by Malaysia’s ruling party.
Prime Minister Najib Razak has called for calm and said the government will not tolerate any threat to racial harmony in the multicultural nation, home to large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.
Tensions were heightened last week when the High Court ruled in favour of the Catholic "Herald" newspaper, which has been using "Allah" as a translation for "God" in its Malay-language section.
Religion and language are sensitive issues in Malaysia, which experienced deadly race riots in 1969.
The row is among a string of religious disputes that have erupted in recent years, straining relations between Muslim Malays and ethnic Chinese and Indians who fear the country is being "Islamised".
The attacks threaten Razak’s plan to win back non-Muslim support before elections due by 2013 and may scare investors away from Malaysia that has trailed Thailand and Indonesia for foreign investment.
Malaysia is mainly Muslim and Malay but there are sizable ethnic Chinese and Indian communities who mainly practice Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism.
They handed the government its biggest losses in 2008 state and national elections in part due to feelings of religious marginalization and growing disillusionment with corruption.
Najib’s handling of the issue will determine whether he can keep the support of the Malays and win back ethnic Chinese and Indian voters to solidify his grip on power after taking control of the government last year.
About 10 percent of Malaysia’s 27 million people are Christians, including some 850,000 Catholics.
