Widowed mother of four sentenced to prison for worshipping teapot

From Reuters...

KUALA LUMPUR - A Malaysian court jailed on Monday a woman follower of a bizarre cult centred around a giant teapot for declaring herself an apostate while still a Muslim.

Apostasy -- deserting one's religion -- is a criminal offence in mainly Muslim Malaysia, whose state religion is Islam but which tolerates other major religions.

An Islamic court in the northeastern state of Terengganu sentenced Kamariah Ali, a 57-year-old former teacher, to two years in jail after she was found guilty of apostasy and refused to repent.

The report goes on to say that Kamariah Ali is a widow and the mother of four children.

While making for an interesting headline, the fact remains, why are Moslems so afraid of other religions. Is their faith in Islam so weak that they dare not even allow people to consider even worshipping a teapot? Odd that their action would imply that they believe "Allah" is a weaker god than a teapot, yet they can't comprehend that by using the force of law they are demeaning Islam. True religion is voluntary, never forced.

Posted by Danny Carlton at March 8, 2008 3:35 PM