Dutch Priest - Call God "Allah"

A Roman Catholic bishop in the Netherlands has suggested that members of all faiths begin to refer to God as "Allah."

Let's put this in perspective. The word Allah is a contraction of two Arabic words: al meaning "the" and ilah meaning "god", thus "the God." It is not a name, it's a description. Christians who speak Arabic often refer to God as Allah. After all, Allah, God, Jahweh, Jehovah - however you refer to the deity - is the same entity for the three religions.

In the Arabic language, Islam, Christianity and Judaism are called "the three heavenly religions" and their adherents are referred to as "people of the book."

I was surprised to read comments by Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations idenitifying Allah as a name. Surely his understanding of Arabic is sufficient enough to distinguish the Arabic words versus a name.

Bottom line: it's two words, not a name.