Council says claim of fake news in churches unfounded

Council says claim of fake news in churches unfounded

Hermen Shastri says churches spend more time praying for the nation and its leaders that they act and rule justly.

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PETALING JAYA: The Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) has expressed sadness at a reported claim by Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor that Christians are using churches to spread fake news and lies that put the government in bad light.

Its general secretary Hermen Shastri said the assertion was unfounded and had put into question the spiritual integrity of the church in imparting its faith in line with the Christian gospel.

“It is an affront to the church for the minister to insinuate that our religious duty in preaching during worship services is ‘lies’ because it is critical of societal issues,” he said.

“Christians believe that the gospel speaks to every aspect of the spiritual, social, economic and political lives of Christians in society.

“I do not think the minister knows that churches spend more time praying for the nation and leaders that they act and rule justly which is what God wills from human beings on Earth,” he said in a statement today.

Tengku Adnan was reported as saying at an event in Kuala Lumpur today that Christians should not talk about what they had read on the internet in their churches.

“Because when you go around and give your sermons and preach on Sundays, there are a lot of things sometimes that are not true,” he was quoted as saying by The Malaysian Insight.

“Please use the church as a place to disseminate God’s will, not to disseminate your own will or things that you are not happy with,” he said.

Shastri said it was sad that Tengku Adnan had made such a “derogatory” statement when the government was observing World Interfaith Harmony Week which falls annually in the first week of February.

“He should be applauding the fact that religious communities in our country teach their people justice, peace and harmony which has helped to make our nation what it is today,” Shastri said.

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