Lilongwe, Malawi, Oct 28, 2010 / 04:11 am
Reacting to Muslim primary school students’ desecration of Bibles in Malawi earlier this month, a local priest said that their vehement reaction is novel and a sign that militancy is a possible danger.
Representatives of the Gideons Bible organization had offered a Catholic primary school in a predominant Muslim area free copies of the New Testament, the local parish priest Fr. Medrick M. Chimbwanya told the Germany-based Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). Although the school had made it clear that no Bibles were to be given to the Muslim pupils and that no one was obliged to take a copy, some Muslim youths created an uproar.
They tore up the Bibles, threw them at their teachers and then threw torn pages on the streets. Some of the students denounced the Bible distribution to their religious leaders as an “insult to Islam” and claimed that they had been forced to accept a Bible.
In the days after the incident, Catholics feared violent attacks from Muslim groups, Fr. Chimbwayna reported.