Bob Teoh's 'An open letter to people of the Book' (16 Mac 2011)  illustrates the fears Muslims have in the method used by evangelists in simulating Muslims to confuse them.

Reading Teoh's letter, one, at the beginning cannot place him either to be a Christian or a Muslim.

For Muslims, the Jews, Sabians and Christians are People of the Book. This is not so for the Christians.

So what does Teoh mean when he says People of the Book? It is very deceptive and dishonest. In fact for a Muslim it is quite a scary mind game at play here.

That is why I find the Jesuit Father Samir Khalil Samir's honesty refreshing.

He says, "A common misperception is that dialogue means 'to be kind to someone' and to smooth over differences. True dialogue means confronting the differences honestly and speaking truthfully about what one believes. First to be true and honest and not to lie..... It is not to say half of your opinion - the half he could hear - because then you are then misguiding him. He thinks that you are in agreement, and it will be worse afterwards. To be honest, truthful, sincere and to do it in the best way possible".

When Fr Samir was asked by some Muslim interviewers whether he believes that Muhammed is a prophet. He said he always responds honestly that he does not.

So please be honest. Christians do not believe that the messenger Muhammed (pbuh) was a prophet. So don't go on about People of the Book and quoting from the Quran when you do not believe in it.

This whole issue of the use of Allah among Christians here has only come about with the rise of the evangelical movement, which is based in the United States, seeking out the so called unreached people. It has never been a problem here before and the issue has to be looked in this context.

One of the methods used by the evangelists is to mimic Muslims, they call it contextualising , a description of it can be read here:-

Increasingly, I find this happening in the cyberspace where Allah is used by non-Muslims in English to refer to God, and a case in point is the following comment posted sometime back in Malaysiakini :-

"Praise your Buddhism & Hinduism by all means, but pls do not vilify the Christians. Charity is the foundation of the Christian faith. Christians never felt, & taught to feel "superior" & just "insisting" on "proselytising". Mother Teresa did not go to India to convert; she only went to serve Christ & taught the world the meaning of true love & charity, if that is what you meant by "proselytising". Besides DAILY helping & feeding the many poor & marginalized (Indian, Malay) in the backlanes of KL, we've also adopted 9 poor Indian families where others have ignored. We provide free monthly rations & ensure the wellbeing of the poor families & children living in poverty becos our Allah is a God of love, compassion & charity. It demonize Christians when writers, with hidden agenda, makes sweeping remarks undermining the good in others who only desire is to help their fellow suffering human being, especially the poor Indians living in poverty with no help from the NEP..."

So this is not a religious issue we are talking about here but a political one and the government and the opposition must address this now itself rather than allowing tension between the communities to fester.