Tais says Christianity does not promote the practice of insulting other religions. — File pic
PETALING JAYA, Sept 28 — A Christian leader from Sabah today backed Putrajaya to act against a man alleged to be a priest who was reported to have insulted Islam, in a bid to distance the church from condoning the act which was recorded and uploaded on YouTube.
Alfred Tais, from the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF), joined Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim in calling for stern action to be taken against Christian convert Benjamin Stephen.
“They have a right to do that,” said Tais, a secretary with the evangelical group’s Bahasa Malaysia section.
“To embrace a new religion is one thing, but to humiliate the religion you embraced before or talk bad about any other religion is very bad. It’s not good testimony. It creates all kinds of misunderstanding,” he added.
Tais appeared concerned that the preacher’s words will cast Christianity and its followers in a negative light.
“I don’t agree with his statement. I think we need to practise more what the Bible says,” he stressed.
The 46-year-old, who is also a member of the Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) church, told The Malaysian Insider he recognised the preacher featured in the YouTube videoclips after rewatching them earlier today.
“He’s not a priest. A priest is what you call a preacher from the mainline churches like the Catholic or Anglican churches,” he explained.
“He’s a preacher from Perak, a Malay convert from a non-denominational church. I met him in Sabah four or five years ago,” he added.
Tais described Benjamin as a chubby young man but was not sure of the man’s age, putting it somewhere between the mid-20s and 30s.
He said the videoclips shown on YouTube appeared to have been recorded some years ago, not recently.
“If you want to share an encounter with God, just focus on that, don’t humiliate any religion… it’s not what religions teach. It’s wrong.”
Mashitah was reported to have urged the Sarawak Islamic Religious Department to investigate Benjamin, who was alleged to have made derogatory comments against Islam in a Kuching church and which were captured and posted on the popular video-sharing website.
“I fear that something might happen if no stern action is taken,” Bernama cited the deputy minister as saying in Putrajaya yesterday.
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