Moslems have no choice

The UK BBC reoprts:

Malaysian 'teapot cult' woman loses Islam legal bid
Kamariah Ali waits outside a courtroom before her trial at Federal Courthouse in Kuala Lumpur, 29 November 2005. Kamariah Ali has already been tried for apostasy in the Islamic courts

Malaysia's civil court has refused a woman permission to leave Islam to avoid being jailed for apostasy.

Kamariah Ali, 60, says she should not be tried under Islamic law because she is no longer a Muslim.

She follows the Sky Kingdom sect, known as the teapot cult because it built a giant teapot to symbolise its belief in the healing purity of water.

But judges ruled that only Malaysia's Islamic courts could decide on the case because Ms Kamariah was born a Muslim.

Malaysia's Islamic courts have authority over only Muslims - the rest of the population are not bound by their rules.

Christians think of religion as something that is voluntarily chosen. Not everyone thinks of it that way.