Elizabeth Eldridge of the Washington Times reports today that Malaysian authorities have begun confiscating Christian children’s books under orders from the Internal Security Ministry headed by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi because they contain images of Moses and Abraham, alledgedly in violation of shariah law. Christian leaders in the country, however, say that the move is part of a larger campaign by Muslims in the government to chip away further at the rights of all religious minorities there, which account for 40 percent of the population. Last month government officials there prohibited a Catholic newspaper from using the word “Allah”, the common word historically used for “God”, because officials ruled that only Muslims were permitted to do so.

No word whether the Malaysian government will in the future also prohibit Christians from using the capital letter “A” or begin seizing copies of the equally blasphemous new VeggieTales movie, The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything, because shariah courts have ruled that singing animated vegetables are prohibited from wearing pirate clothes.