Respected Reverend,

I read emphatically your comments highlighting the fact that the Federal court's decision is confined to the usage of the word 'Allah' to The Herald .

With that I appeal to you to join hands with the leaders of the various denominations of the Christian and Catholic communities to put the past behind us in respect of the Federal Court's decision.

Many of my Christian friends tell me that it really does not matter how God is referred to in Christian literature or prayer.

Many also understand that the word 'Allah' carries a deeper, unique meaning to Muslims with regards to the attributes of the one God, which may convey a different meaning altogether for Christians.

Generally, for Christians the word 'God' is interchangeable with 'Allah' but not so for Muslims. Surely then, it makes sense, in true Christian spirit of giving to let Islam alone to be identified with the word 'Allah'.

I am not trying to trivialise the history and traditions of our East Malaysian brothers and sisters of the Christian faith. I do, however, wonder if the word in question was actually 'Alla' or 'Alah' rather than 'Allah'.

I have come across Christian literature in Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu referring to God as 'Alla' or 'Alla Bapak'. 

From a phonetic angle, I have never heard any Christian pronouncing 'Alla' as 'Allah'. In fact the cognates 'Alah', 'Alla', 'Eloha' and such are seen in Hebrew, Aramic and Syriac texts but none of these cognates carries that unique, uninterchangeable meaning as what 'Allah' means to Muslims.

I am hardly an expert of theology but I am deeply concerned about the future of this beautiful country. I concur with the prime minister when he says: "I am not interested in winning a legal argument."

Indeed both sides can argue until the cows come home without a real solution but only remorse in their hearts. The order of  the day is to bury the hatchet and move on.

If the Church steps aside gracefully, we would see Muslims and Christians hugging each other with relief in their hearts and tears of happiness  in their eyes - in true spirit of brotherhood that this country needs so badly at this hour.