Perhaps because they have no choice, and when they do reject it, are condemned and ignored.
Malaysia rejects Muslim convert’s bid to be recognized as Christian
Malaysia’s top civil court rejected a Muslim woman’s appeal to be recognized as a Christian on Wednesday, in a landmark case that tested the limits of religious freedom in the moderate Islamic country.
A three-judge Federal Court panel ruled by a 2-1 majority that only the Islamic Shariah Court has the power to allow Lina Joy, who converted to Christianity in 1998, to remove the word “Islam” from the religion category on her government identity card.
“This appeal is rejected,” Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim said. “Apostasy is a matter linked to Islamic laws. It’s under the jurisdiction of the Shariah court … Civil courts cannot interfere.”
“She cannot simply at her own whims enter or leave her religion,” Judge Ahmad Fairuz said. “She must follow rules.”
I hosted an event last year here in Los Angeles which featured Dr. Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-American and one of the few Muslim or former Muslim vocal critics of Islam. She was asked by someone in the audience how we could ever imagine really dealing with the problem of Islamism when there we so many Muslims around the world. Wafa countered that if people who were Muslim were actually free to choose their religion, the number of Muslims worldwide would drop dramatically.
This story is an important reminder of that fact.
Keep in mind that Malaysia is one of those “modern”, “moderate” Muslim nations that we hear about. A few years ago, the Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, caused a stir when he gave a speech before a summit of Islamic leaders and said things like “The Muslims will forever be oppressed and dominated by the Europeans and the Jews,” and “The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.” However, since he was apparently of the opinion that the Jewish domination of the world could be ended without another Holocaust, he is considered to be in the “moderate” camp.
Under the Malaysian Constitution, (Part 1, Section 3)
“Islam is the religion of the Federation; but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation.”
I like how the government is kind enough to allow the people of Malaysia to practice other religions and yet they are officially marked as Muslims. What a wonderfully open-minded and tolerant nation.