{"id":415,"date":"2010-01-04T13:40:53","date_gmt":"2010-01-04T13:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/windowsanddoors\/2010\/01\/how-many-names-does-god-have.html"},"modified":"2010-01-04T13:40:53","modified_gmt":"2010-01-04T13:40:53","slug":"how-many-names-does-god-have","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2010\/01\/how-many-names-does-god-have.html","title":{"rendered":"How Many Names Does God Have?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Without even getting into a debate between monotheists and polytheists, and willing to avoid the very serious conversation about whether there is really any difference between the two, I am simply wondering about the names of God. And so too, according to this morning’s news, are millions of Muslims, especially in Malaysia, where the Supreme Court has just upheld the right of local Roman Catholics to refer to God as Allah <\/a>in their publications.
\nMany are outraged by the decision, claiming that it will create dangerous confusion at best, and is theologically offensive at worst. I guess it’s hard when you are so successful that your group’s way of referring to God gets so popular that other people with different practices are comfortable using it to refer to the same being. Belief in the infinite can be a pain, huh?
\nBottom line, those objecting to the use by non-Muslims of Allah as a name for God, should either admit that they really don’t believe in the One, the Infinite One, or simply get used to hearing them do so. No tradition can have it both ways, including my own. That’s why I have no problem with non-Jews calling on Adonai or Elohim. Do you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Without even getting into a debate between monotheists and polytheists, and willing to avoid the very serious conversation about whether there is really any difference between the two, I am simply wondering about the names of God. And so too, according to this morning’s news, are millions of Muslims, especially in Malaysia, where the Supreme…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-judaism","category-news","category-religion"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Many Names Does God Have? - Windows and Doors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2010\/01\/how-many-names-does-god-have.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Many Names Does God Have? - Windows and Doors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Without even getting into a debate between monotheists and polytheists, and willing to avoid the very serious conversation about whether there is really any difference between the two, I am simply wondering about the names of God. 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