This is what you get when you mix religion with government

And it ain't pretty.

Malaysia's top secular court on Wednesday rejected a woman's bid to be legally recognised as Christian after converting from Islam, saying the matter must be decided by a religious court.

Lina Joy had sought to have the word "Islam" removed from her national identity card but the federal court threw out her case, deciding that only one of the country's Islamic sharia tribunals could legally certify her conversion.

Renouncing the faith is one of the gravest sins in Islam, and Joy's case has raised questions about religious freedom here as well as the exact legal relationship between the mainly Muslim country's secular and religious courts.

Joy, an ethnic Muslim Malay who was born Azlina Jailani, had argued that she should not be bound by the Islamic courts because she is now a Christian.

The ruling comes amid mounting racial and religious tensions in Malaysia, where minority religious groups fear their rights are being undermined, even though the country is traditionally seen as moderate.

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