Update (Jan. 24): World Watch Monitors offers an in-depth report here. Meanwhile the Vatican is opening the equivalent of an embassy in Malaysia.

Update (Jan. 23): Reuters reports that an independent member of Malaysia's parliament has issued a call to "seize and burn copies of Bibles which use the word 'Allah' to refer to God."

But Ibrahim Ali, whose political group supports the rights of the ethnic Malay Muslim majority could face charges under various laws, Malaysia's Bar Council said. Whether or not Ali is prosecuted, though, his call to burn Bibles foreshadows "an intense election struggle as the country prepares for an election which must be called by April."

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A prominent Malaysian sultan is attempting to ban non-Muslims from using the term Allah, the Arabic word for god, in prayers and religious materials, sparking protests and reviving a longstanding debate over whether Christians in Southeast Asia should refer to God as Allah.

Sultan Sharafuddin ...

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