War on Christianity > After 8 Years Christian Family Free; Buddhists Bash Bangladeshi Church; Harvard Elects Atheist Head Chaplain

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Pakistani Christian couple released from death row

granted asylum in Europe

By Anugrah Kumar, 

Christian Post Contributor| 

Saturday, August 14, 2021

Shagufta Masih and her husband, Shafqat Emmanuel, with their children | ADF International

Two months after being acquitted by a high court and surviving death threats, a Pakistani Catholic mother and her partially paralyzed husband, who were on death row for seven years on false blasphemy charges, have arrived in Europe.

Shagufta Masih and her husband, Shafqat Emmanuel, faced death threats after reports of their acquittal by the Lahore High Court broke in early June. In 2014, a session court had sentenced the couple to death by hanging.

“We are so relieved to finally be free. The last eight years have been incredibly hard, but we are so happy to be reunited with our children,” said Shafqat Emmanuel on behalf of the family, according to ADF International, a human rights group that supported the Christian couple.

“Although we will miss our country, we are happy to finally be somewhere safe,” added Emmanuel, who was the watchman of a school in the Gojra area of Toba Tek Singh district in Pakistan’s Punjab Province.

The Catholic couple was arrested in July 2013 under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws after a local imam accused them of committing blasphemy by sending him an offensive text message.

Maulvi Mohammed Hussain, a leader at a local mosque, claimed that Emmanuel used his wife's cellphone to send an anti-Islamic text message. He later claimed other messages followed. Hussain said he was praying when he received the offensive text message from an unknown number.

The Muslim cleric reportedly showed the text message to two other imams before approaching his counsel for legal proceedings. He and his lawyer later claimed they both received subsequent blasphemous messages.

Masih’s brother, Joseph, previously told the BBC that his brother-in-law had been tortured and forced to make a false confession.

The text messages were also alleged to have been written in English. Aside from being illiterate, Shafqat and Shagufta are not familiar with the English language — written or spoken.

And yet they were found guilty and originally sentenced to death. Tells you a lot about the justice system in Pakistan.

ADF International’s Director of Advocacy for Asia, Tehmina Arora, said in a statement that their case “is not an isolated incident but testifies to the plight that many Christians and other religious minorities experience in Pakistan today.”

The couple’s lawyer, Saif Ul Malook, said, “These cases are very difficult to litigate, due to the concern for security. There is a very real threat to the life of the clients and the lawyers.” 

Christians are often targeted by both Pakistan’s blasphemy laws meant to protect Islamic sensitivities and by hardliners who carry out violence and have killed scores of believers in the past several years.

The blasphemy law, embedded in Sections 295 and 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code, is frequently misused for personal revenge. It carries no provision to punish a false accuser or a false witness of blasphemy.

Islamist extremists also use the law to target religious minorities — Christians, Shias, Ahmadiyyas and Hindus.

“While the right to religious freedom is protected by the Pakistani constitution, many face severe persecution and denial of their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and assembly,” Arora said. 

“Hopefully, the blasphemy laws in Pakistan will soon be abolished, so others won’t suffer the same fate as Shagufta and I,” Emmanuel said.

The couple's country of asylum has not been disclosed due to security concerns.

Bangladeshi Church Faces Ongoing Oppression From Buddhists

Source(s): AsiaNews, Christian Post

Date: 12 August 2021

Church before and after destruction. - Photo: AsiaNews

For several weeks, a small church in Suandrapara, a village of southeastern Bangladesh, has been facing threats from militant Buddhists who were attempting to coerce the Christians to return to Buddhism, even though many of the churchgoers had converted several years before. As a result of the oppression, most of the 50 members of the Bangladesh Tribal Baptist Church have been forced to stay away from their homes for fear of attack.

Along with the threats, the church building has been physically damaged on two occasions. The Buddhist militants first ordered the church members to demolish their place of worship. When the Christians refused, the assailants destroyed parts of the building, including the front gate and cross, on July 15th. The oppressors demanded that there be no further church activities, giving the believers seven days to return to their former religion. When that deadline passed, the church was again attacked on July 22nd, resulting in additional damages – this time to a wall, door and the tin roof. The Christians were threatened that there would be further consequences if they reported the incident to the police or members of the media.

The pastor, Rev. Tubel Chakma Poran Adetion, states that the members of his church have not gone to the police, since they are considered a minority people group within the village. "We want to live in peace with [the Buddhists] and discuss things with them," he explained. However, if a collaborative discussion cannot bring about a peaceful resolution, the believers are prepared to take the matter to court.

Both Christians and Buddhists are a small minority in Bangladesh, with the vast majority of the population being Muslim. To learn about the challenges facing Christians in Bangladesh, go to our country report.

Pray that God will bestow wisdom upon the members of the Bangladesh Tribal Baptist Church, giving these persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ the right words to say to their neighbours who so strongly oppose the Gospel. May the Holy Spirit provide the inner peace needed so these Christians will remain committed to Jesus, no matter the cost. Pray that God’s Spirit will also touch the hearts of the instigators, bringing about radical transformation in their lives and ultimately harmony to this village community as a whole.

Like all Ivy-League universities, (I think), Harvard was founded as a Christian college.

Harvard University Elects Atheist as New Chief Chaplain

Amanda Casanova |
ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor |
Friday, August 27, 2021

Greg Epstein, 44, was recently unanimously elected to the top spot at the college and is set to begin work this week, Yahoo News reports.

Epstein is the author of the book “Good Without God.”

“There is a rising group of people who no longer identify with any religious tradition but still experience a real need for conversation and support around what it means to be a good human and live an ethical life,” Epstein said.

Epstein was raised Jewish and in 2005 received ordination as a humanist rabbi from the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism.

He then worked as the humanist chaplain for Harvard and later at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In his new role, Epstein will work with students and help coordinate religious events and counsel students.

“Greg was the first choice of a committee that was made up of a Lutheran, a Christian Scientist, an evangelical Christian, and a Bahá’í,” said Lutheran chaplain Rev. Kathleen Reed, chairwoman of the nominating committee. “We’re presenting to the university a vision of how the world could work when diverse traditions focus on how to be good humans and neighbors.”

No Muslims, no Catholics, no Jews (Epstein doesn't count)! But a firm belief that the world would work better without God!

Margit Hammerstrom, the Christian Science chaplain at Harvard, said in an interview that Epstein is respected and popular among the other chaplains at the college.

“Maybe in a more conservative university climate there might be a question like ‘What the heck are they doing at Harvard, having a humanist be the president of the chaplains?’” she said. “But in this environment, it works. Greg is known for wanting to keep lines of communication open between different faiths.”

According to a poll from the Harvard Crimson, Harvard’s student newspaper, more than 40 percent of the students identified as either atheist or agnostic in 2020. In 2017, that number was 32 percent.

With atheistic chaplains, it would be a surprise if the numbers were any different.

Pakistani Christian Couple's Death Row Appeal Delayed After 6 Years in Prison for Blasphemy

War on Christianity in Pakistan - Like Nowhere Else

By Melissa Barnhart, CP Reporter| 

Christians attend a Good Friday prayer at the Saint Anthony Church in Lahore, Pakistan, April 3, 2015.

| Reuters/Mohsin Raza

A Pakistani Christian couple who've been imprisoned for six years and sentenced to death on false blasphemy charges of sending a text message insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad continue to have their conviction appeal delayed.

Shagufta Kausar and her husband, Shafqat Emmanuel, who is partially paralyzed, were accused by a local imam of committing blasphemy by sending him an offensive text message in 2013.

Maulvi Mohammed Hussain, a leader at a mosque in the town of Gojra in Punjab province, claimed that Emmanuel used his wife's cellphone to send an anti-Islamic text message. He later claimed other messages followed. 

Hussain said he was praying when he received the offensive text message from an unknown number.

His wife's cellphone is an unknown number?

The Muslim cleric reportedly showed the text message to two other imams before approaching his counsel for legal proceedings. He and his lawyer later claimed they both received subsequent blasphemous messages.

Because he sent it to them?

Police registered the blasphemy case following the imam's complaint, and the couple were arrested on July 21, 2013. They were charged with "insulting the Quran" and "insulting the prophet."

They were sentenced to separate prisons in 2014. 

According to some reports, "[Kauser] is being held in the same prison cell Asia Bibi was held in before her release," Will Stark, regional manager for South Asia at International Christian Concern, told The Christian Post on Wednesday.

"In regards to Shafqat, his medical condition has deteriorated significantly during his imprisonment," Stark added. "This is because the jail does not provide facilities for him, as someone partially paralyzed. Bedsores and lack of nutrition are definitely issues I have seen reported specifically in regards to Shafqat’s case."

According to the BBC, a final hearing before the Lahore High Court was scheduled for Wednesday. However, the hearing was delayed and a new hearing date will be announced. 

Kausar's brother, Joseph, told the BBC that his sister and her husband are not only innocent, but he believes they aren't even literate enough to have written the text messages.

Joseph also said his brother-in-law had been tortured and forced to make a false confession.

"He told me the policeman hit [him] so hard that his leg was broken," Joseph was quoted as saying.

The text messages were also alleged to have been written in English. Aside from being illiterate, Shafqat and Shagufta are not familiar with the English language — written or spoken.

The couple's lawyer, Saif ul Malook, who also assisted in the appeal of Asia Bibi's blasphemy case, said the charges against Kausar and Emmanuel are "deeply flawed" and "weaker" than those levied against Bibi.

Although the phone was registered in Kausar's name, Malook told the BBC that "in their trial, they suggested a Christian neighbor they had argued with might have purchased a SIM card in Kausar's name and sent the messages in order to frame them."

That might explain the imam not knowing his wife's phone number.

In 2014, Nadeem Hassan, who's also representing the couple at the high court, said the offending messages were sent from a phone that had been lost. He further explained that a "bogus SIM card" had been presented as evidence against the couple, The Telegraph reported.

Hassan told ICC last year that the allegation is "based on religious hatred and is being used to settle personal grudges.” 

Before her arrest, Kausar worked as a cleaner at a Christian school. Emmanuel has been paralyzed from the waist down since 2004, following an accident that fractured his spine. At the time of the accident, they were living with their four young children in a church compound. 

The children continue to remain in hiding as their parents’ case continues, Stark said.

“Like many relatives of Christians accused of blasphemy, they live in fear that their parents’ blasphemy accusation may cause extremists to attack them,” he added.

And with good reason. See story immediately below.

Malook said the couple needs the same international support that Bibi received during the years she waited for her appeal to be heard. And if they're acquitted, he said they will also need to be granted asylum.

While no one has yet been executed on blasphemy charges, people who've been accused of the crime have been killed by retaliatory mob violence. Allegations of blasphemy are frequently lodged to settle personal disputes and to discriminate against religious minorities.

Christians make up just 1.6% of the country's population.

Last year, Asia Bible was acquitted by Pakistan's Supreme Court of blasphemy charges after she languished on death row for more than eight years. Bibi has since written a book about her ordeal.

Pakistan, a 96% Muslim-majority country, ranks as the fifth-worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USA's 2020 World Watch List. In 2018, Pakistan was also named by the U.S. State Department as a "country of particular concern" for religious freedom violations.

The couple's appeal hearing has been rescheduled for June 22.

“Brother-in-Law of Christian Asia Bibi, Killed in Pakistan,”

3rd Murder associated with Asia Bibi - 2 others were influential politicians

Islamic Insanity

by Stefan J. Bos, BosNewsLife, May 28, 2020:

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife) – The brother-in-law of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who faced the death penalty for “blasphemy” against Islam, has been killed, Christians confirmed Wednesday, May 27.

The body of Younas Masih, 50, was reportedly found Monday, May 25, in a furrow in Dao Ki Mallian village in the Sheikhupura district of Pakistan’s Punjab province.

Asia Bibi

The father of two was married to Najma Bibi, the younger sister of Asia Bibi, who was eventually acquitted of blasphemy in 2018 after spending eight years on death row in Pakistan.

“He used to take care of the cattle at the farmhouse of a local landlord. We had been searching for him after he went missing a day earlier. His throat was slit. We handed over his body to the police,” the victim’s brother George Masih said in published remarks.

Church sources said police had detained the widow and a local Muslim for alleged involvement in the murder. Both had an extramarital affair, local Christians said. The suspects were named as Najma Bibi and Irfan Dogar.

CONFESSING CRIME

Police were quoted as saying they had confessed to the crime, and the victim’s body was sent to a morgue for an autopsy.

It is not the first time that somebody associated with Asia Bibi has been murdered. In 2011, Salman Taseer, the influential governor of Punjab, was assassinated after he appealed for the pardon of Asia Bibi, who had been sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad.

A month later, Religious Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian who spoke out against the blasphemy legislation, was shot dead in Islamabad, the capital.

Bibi, 47, was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 after defending her faith in Christ after fellow farmworkers did not want to share water with her. Besides “insulting Prophet Muhammad,” the mother-of-five was accused “of contaminating” the well by Muslims.

Some Muslims consider Christians dirty and do not drink water using the same container. Bibi, whose full name is Aasia Noreen, was convicted and sentenced to death for blasphemy, charges she denied….

Asia Bibi is safely living in Canada, her entire family should join her. In fact, I am inclined to believe that all Christians should leave Pakistan and let it suffer the consequences complete rejection of He Who is our Judge and Maker.

Christian Woman Released from Pakistan Blasphemy Case Travels to Canada

Welcome to Canada Asia Bibi

May the Lord protect you from Islamic insanity

Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who spent eight years on death row for blasphemy in Pakistan, has flown to Canada to be reunited with her family. The news was welcomed on Twitter, with users posting messages of support and delight.

“It is a big day,” Bibi’s lawyer Saiful Malook said. “Justice has been dispensed.”

 . @MarleneSchiappa, France’s equality minister,confirms that #AsiaBibi is now safe and free in her movement.Great news for Asia,her family and all humanists.This is a strong message to all fanatics for whom it’s easier to kill than to accept a different opinion.Bravo et merci 🙏🏻

@HillelNeuer

Bravo to millions worldwide who were neither silent nor indifferent. 

There were so many Christians who prayed, and people of all beliefs who spoke out, for one innocent woman imprisoned in Pakistan.

I especially salute @FreeAsiaBiBi, who posted 84,000 tweets to save #AsiaBibi.

Her reunion with her four daughters in Ottawa concludes a nine-year saga for the Roman Catholic farm laborer, from Ittanwala near Lahore, who was accused of insulting the Prophet Mohammed by a group of Muslim women following a row over a cup of water in June 2009.

Geert Wilders

 Fantastic news! Brave christian hero #AsiaBibi free now after leaving barbaric #Pakistan.

Mehreen Zahra-Malik

“A great relief this shameful ordeal has finally come to an end & #AsiaBibi and her family are safe,” said Omar Waraich at @Amnesty International. “She should never have been imprisoned let alone endured constant threats to her life.”

A local mosque broadcast the allegations levelled against her and she was subsequently dragged from her home and beaten by a mob before being taken into custody. She was sentenced to death in 2010.

Mahwash Ajaz

Stay safe #AsiaBibi. May we make #Pakistan a better place for those who are vulnerable, who are weak & those who deserve protection from oppressive forces anywhere.

Andrew Stroehlein

It is Pakistan’s eternal shame that the country could not provide the tolerant & safe society that #AsiaBibi and her family (and all people) deserve.

Throughout her time in prison, Bibi received support both internationally and from within Pakistan’s own government, with fatal consequences. The governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, was assassinated by one of his own bodyguards in 2011 after he appealed to the Pakistani president to pardon her. The bodyguard was executed over the crime in 2016.

In addition, Shahbaz Bhatti, who was the federal minister for minority affairs at the time, was shot dead by self-proclaimed Taliban gunmen in March 2011 after he called for the reform of blasphemy laws and declared his support for Bibi.

Islamic madness reigns supreme in Pakistan.

Bibi was finally released from prison in 2018 following her acquittal by the Supreme Court which quashed the blasphemy sentence citing unreliable evidence and an alleged confession issued before a crowd that was “threatening to kill her.”

Her acquittal sparked an outbreak of violence and angry demonstrations on the streets of Islamabad and Karachi as armed mobs pelted police and traffic with stones.

The hardline conservative Islamist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) protested for three days and forced the government to reconsider the acquittal. Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld the verdict in January.

Meanwhile, Bibi was kept in a secret location while arrangements were made for her safe departure from the country where she was held prisoner on death row for eight years.

At least 65 people have reportedly been killed for blasphemy in Pakistan since 1990.

Top Pakistan Court Upholds Christian Woman's Blasphemy Acquittal

A Rare Win in the War on Christianity

Move could pave way for Asia Bibi to seek asylum in Canada

The Associated Press 

Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman, sits next to the governor of Punjab province after visiting her in jail on Nov. 20, 2010. Her conviction for making derogatory remarks about Islam was overturned last October. (Asad Karim/Reuters)

Pakistan's top court on Tuesday upheld its acquittal of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy, clearing the last legal hurdle and freeing Asia Bibi to leave the country in a move that dealt a blow to radical Islamists who had demanded her execution.

Following the landmark decision, Bibi will finally be able to join her daughters, who earlier fled to Canada where they have been given asylum.

Bibi's lawyer, Saiful Malook, said in an op-ed published by the Washington Post last month that his client's most likely destination would be Canada if she were allowed to leave Pakistan.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in November that talks were underway with Pakistani officials over the case, but he could not say more because of "a delicate domestic context."

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada said in an emailed statement that "Canada is prepared to do everything we can to ensure the safety of Asia Bibi."

Malook, who returned to Islamabad after fleeing the country amid death threats, called the court decision a victory for Pakistan's Constitution and rule of law. The three-judge Supreme Court panel had "insisted on very strict proofs of blasphemy" and found none, he said.

Pakistan's Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, who led the panel of judges, dismissed the petition filed by radical religious leaders. The extremists had petitioned the court to overturn its acquittal and send her back to prison for execution. He (Khosa) said in court that Bibi's accusers were guilty of perjury and if the case had not been so sensitive, they should have been jailed for life.

"The image of Islam we are showing to the world gives me much grief and sorrow," Khosa said.

Bibi, who spent eight years on death row and has been under guard at a secret place since her acquittal last October, was overjoyed at the news she heard over the TV.

"'I am really gratefully to everybody. Now after nine years it is confirmed that I am free and I will be going to hug my daughters,'" a friend quoted Bibi as saying. The friend spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, fearing for his safety.

Following her October acquittal, radical religious parties took to the streets to protest, calling for the killing of judges who acquitted Bibi and for the overthrow of Prime Minister Imran Khan's government. They also filed the last-minute appeal for a review of the Supreme Court acquittal.

The protests were spearheaded by the radical Tehreek-e-Labbaik party, whose single-point agenda is protection of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

Maybe they should start trying to protect Islam from liars who abuse the law to settle personal grievances. As the judge said, that would show Islam in a much better light. The pattern of mass hysteria at the mere suggestion of blasphemy belongs in the 7th century, not the 21st.

Controversial blasphemy law

Bibi's case goes to the core of one of Pakistan's most controversial issues — the blasphemy law, often used to settle scores or intimidate followers of minority religions, including minority Shia Muslims. A charge of insulting Islam can bring the death penalty.

But the accusation on its own is sometimes enough to whip up vengeful mobs, even if the courts acquit defendants. A provincial governor who defended Bibi was shot and killed, as was a government minority minister who dared question the blasphemy law.

Bibi, who always insisted that she was innocent, has said she will leave the country as soon as her legal battles are over. Her lawyer, who fled the country after receiving death threats, returned to Pakistan for the final review.

Bibi's ordeal began on a hot day in 2009 when she brought water to fellow farmhands who refused to drink from the same container as a Christian woman. Two of her fellow farm workers argued with Bibi and later accused her of insulting Islam's Prophet.

Students from a Muslim seminary shout slogans as they demand punishment for Bibi during a rally in Karachi on Nov. 26, 2010. (Athar Hussain/Reuters)

Following protests after Bibi's acquittal, the authorities arrested radical clerics Khadim Hussain Rizvi and Mohammad Afzal Qadri, both leaders of the Tehreekk-e-Labbaik party, and several of their followers for destroying public property during rallies against Bibi and for inciting their followers to violence. The clerics and the others remain in custody.

The cleric petitioning the court for Bibi's return to death row, Qari Salam, is linked with Rizvi's Tehreek-e-Labbaik party.

The party said Monday it will not accept any decision in favour of Bibi's release and asked its followers to prepare for more mass protests.

Pakistani police stepped up security around the Supreme Court in Islamabad ahead of its decision Tuesday.

Mass hysteria is easy to invoke when the whole country is made up of radical Muslims. Imran Khan needs a lot of prayer if he is going to bring Pakistan into the 20th century. He needs a spectacular miracle to bring it into the 21st century.

Pakistan Blasphemy Case: Asia Bibi Freed From Jail

Will this young Christian woman be able to escape

the Islamic Insanity that is Pakistan?

A Pakistani Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row has been freed from prison, her lawyer says.

Some reports say Asia Bibi has boarded a plane but its destination was not known.

The Supreme Court ruling sparked protests from Islamists and the government had said it would bar her from leaving Pakistan.

Her husband had said they were in danger and pleaded for asylum.

Asia Bibi, a mother-of-five, was released from prison in the city of Multan, her lawyer Saif Mulook said.

Also known as Asia Noreen, she was convicted in 2010 of insulting the Prophet Muhammad during a row with neighbours.

Several countries have offered her asylum.

The Pakistani government has said it will start legal proceedings to prevent her going abroad after agreeing the measure to end the violent protests.

Many of the protesters were hardliners who support strong blasphemy laws and called for Asia Bibi to be hanged.

One Islamist leader said all three Supreme Court judges also "deserved to be killed".

Yes, because you would not want Pakistan to enter the 2nd millennium, let alone the 3rd. I have hopes for the new Prime Minister, but he has an extraordinary problem in dealing with Islamic Insanity.

A spokesman for the hardline Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP) party said Asia Bibi's release was in breach of their deal with the government.

"The rulers have showed their dishonesty," TLP spokesman Ejaz Ashrafi told Reuters.

The deal also saw officials agree not to block a petition for the Supreme Court to evaluate Asia Bibi's acquittal in the light of Islamic Sharia law.

What was Asia Bibi accused of?

The trial stems from an argument Asia Bibi had with a group of women in June 2009.

They were harvesting fruit when a row broke out about a bucket of water. The women said that because she had used a cup, they could no longer touch it, as her faith had made it unclean.

Prosecutors alleged that in the row which followed, the women said Asia Bibi should convert to Islam and that she made offensive comments about the Prophet Muhammad in response.

She was later beaten up at her home, during which her accusers say she confessed to blasphemy. She was arrested after a police investigation.

Acquitting her, the Supreme Court said that the case was based on unreliable evidence and her confession was delivered in front of a crowd "threatening to kill her".

Why is this case so divisive?

Islam is Pakistan's national religion and underpins its legal system. Public support for the strict blasphemy laws is strong.

Hard-line politicians have often backed severe punishments, partly as a way of shoring up their support base.

But critics say the laws have often been used to exact revenge after personal disputes, and that convictions are based on thin evidence.

How many do not ever make it to trial as mass hysteria sometimes results in the immediate murder of the accused, often in the most horrific manner?

The vast majority of those convicted are Muslims or members of the Ahmadi community, but since the 1990s scores of Christians have been convicted. They make up just 1.6% of the population.

The Christian community has been targeted by numerous attacks in recent years, leaving many feeling vulnerable to a climate of intolerance.

Since 1990, at least 65 people have reportedly been killed in Pakistan over claims of blasphemy.

Please pray for Asia and her family, that they will indeed escape Pakistan and find refuge in a safe country, if one exists. 

Danish Blasphemy Law Used for First Time in 46 Years after Man Burns Quran

© Esam Omran al-Fetori / Reuters

A man who filmed himself burning the Quran and posted the video on Facebook has become the first person to be charged under Denmark's blasphemy law since 1971.

The 42 year old from northern Jutland filmed himself burning the sacred book of Islam in his backyard on December 27, 2015. He then posted the video on an anti-Islamic Facebook page called, ‘Yes to freedom – no to Islam’

“Consider your neighbour: it stinks when it burns," the man wrote in text accompanying the post.

“It is the prosecution's view that circumstances involving the burning of holy books such as the Bible and the Quran can, in certain cases, be a violation of the blasphemy clause, which covers public scorn or mockery of religion,” Danish prosecutor Jan Reckendorff said in a statement announcing his decision to bring charges over the incident.

"It is our opinion that the circumstances of this case implies that there should be a prosecution so that the courts now have the opportunity to take a position on the matter.”

Publicly insulting or degrading religious doctrines or worship is punishable under clause 140 of Denmark’s criminal code. Anyone found guilty can be imprisoned or fined, however this is only the fourth time a blasphemy prosecution has been attempted in the country.

In 1938 four people were sentenced for putting up anti-Semitic posters and leaflets and in 1946 two people were fined after acting out a “baptism” at a ball in Copenhagen. The last prosecution attempt came 46 years ago in 1971, when two Denmark Radio producers were acquitted after airing a song mocking Christianity.

Several other cases have been considered without charges being brought. The most controversial incident came in 2005 when prosecutors declined to invoke the blasphemy legislation after the Jyllands-Posten newspaper published cartoons mocking the prophet Mohammed.

As Islamic scholars believe that the Koran forbids depictions of the prophet Mohammed, the cartoons generated widespread anger among Muslims across the world.

The ‘cartoon crisis’ sparked several violent protests as angry demonstrators burned Danish flags and torched diplomatic offices. The Irish Times reports that more than 200 deaths have been linked to the controversy.

The Quran may forbid depictions of Mohammed - why, I do not know, he was just a prophet, but the Quran does not apply to non-Muslims. Just as the Bible does not apply to non-Christians except as reference to their judgment and ultimate destiny. There are billions of depictions of Jesus Christ who is the Son of God, not a mere prophet, and while the Bible forbids it, Christians don't go insane when they see it. 

It Feels Like a 'Crime' to Be Christian in Pakistan

There are no angels in Islamabad; only politicians

The deplorable state of Christians in Pakistan

by WAJAHAT S. KHAN

Pakistani Christian children play in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad on Jan. 23. Muhammed Muheisen / AP, file

A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for an Easter Sunday suicide attack on a park in Lahore and said Christians were "our prime target." In August 2014, NBC News examined what life is like for Christians in the country.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — This Islamic republic's wealthy and cosmopolitan capital is jokingly referred to as "a beautiful city 15 minutes from Pakistan." But life is no laughing matter for Islamabad's Christian community.

Most of the city's Christians can be found living in ramshackle houses constructed over open sewers in ghettos hidden from sight behind whitewashed walls. Authorities supply no power or gas to the slums, which are essentially cities within cities and in some cases are nestled between Islamabad's most plush neighborhoods.

Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah proclaimed in 1947 that his countrymen "may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the state."

But the modern reality is very different. Most people in Pakistan are Muslims and Jinnah's imagined secular state has become increasingly theocratic after decades of dictatorships and official Islamism. 

This, I believe is typical evolution in an Islamic state. They tend toward theocracy and away from secularism. Look at Turkey, an intensely secular country when Attaturk separated it from the Ottomans a century ago. Now look at it! Erdogan is not so far from setting himself up as Sultan.

Europeans don't get this evolution. Many countries still think they can absorb an endless number of Muslims and maintain there western identity. They are fooling themselves and putting themselves in a position from which they can never extract themselves. Europe is living on borrowed time.

Christians, particularly the poor belonging to the agricultural center and north of the country, are considered outcasts by many and find themselves pushed to the edge of society.

Islamabad's Christians allege rampant discrimination by the conservative Pakistan Muslim League government. They say their small proportion of the population means they don't stand a chance at the ballot box and are now demanding a voice.

Recently retired cook Rehmat Masih has lived in Islamabad for four decades. The 65-year-old offers a bleak assessment of life in a Christian slum.

"I think being Christian, in this place, this Pakistan, is a crime," he said. "If we speak out, our corpses will be on the road."

Masih lives in "100 Quarters," a litter-strewn slum tucked between Islamabad's posh Margalla and Hill Roads. It is named after the first 100 apartments granted to Christians by the government in the 1960s, but it has since grown and now houses more than 1,000 Christian families.

"They say that Islamabad is a great capital of a great nation," said Masih, standing next to an overflowing drain. "But they let us live like this in middle of Islamabad. Officials drive by every day in BMWs and see this. Yet we are kept like this. Why?"

"WE ARE TOO SCATTERED, TOO DIVIDED, TOO UNEDUCATED"

According to the National Minority Alliance (NMA), Christians form under three percent of Pakistan's estimated 180 million people. But the community is spread all over the country, making it almost impossible for Christians to elect representatives who share their religion because they lack the numbers in a free-for-all poll. Almost always faced with a choice of a Muslim candidate from mainstream parties, they have to depend on a handful of "reserved" seats for minorities for representation in the 343-seat parliament, where non-Muslim minorities — Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis and Christians — have only 10 seats.

Critics like Samuel Yaqoob, of the Muslim-Christian Coalition, say those seats are given to "friends and favorites of the ruling parties, not actual spokespersons of our community."

"We are too scattered, too divided, too uneducated," added Robin Daniel, of the National Minority Alliance.

Many residents of the capital's Christian slums work in sanitation, cleaning sewers and collecting refuse. Others provide domestic help for Islamabad's well-heeled. Students from private high schools can be spotted with their expensive cars parked near the gates of such slums during afternoons, purchasing narcotics from Christian teenagers.

"Our problems are social, legal and political," said Shahryar Shams, 25, a newly graduated lawyer. "In theory, all fundamental rights for minorities are granted by the Constitution of Pakistan. But we lack organized political leadership in our own community. We face increasing extremism from the rest of society too ... But our biggest issue is that we are represented by those who are selected by the powers that be, and not through our direct vote."

In September, a suicide bomb attack on a church killed at least 75 people. And in March 2013, a Muslim mob set ablaze almost 200 buildings in a predominantly Christian neighborhood of Lahore.

Pakistan's much-debated "Blasphemy Law" is also often used to target Christians and other minorities. In 2012, 14-year-old Rimsha Masih was falsely accused of burning the Quran, the sacred Islamic text. Charges were later dropped amid international concern for her safety, but the law, remains on the books. Those accused under an anti-blasphemy law are sometimes lynched by the public even if they are found innocent by the courts.

One brave politician championed the idea of dropping the grossly misused Blasphemy Laws. He was murdered last year by the religion of peace.


But Fazeela Bibi, 17, a Christian high-school dropout who works as an office assistant at the American Embassy in Islamabad, suggested that the community was traditionally "not united" enough to drive change.

"One person can't do anything alone," she said, while preparing lunch over a wood stove in a 100 Quarters courtyard adjacent to a drain oozing out monsoon rains and refuse. "Injustice cannot be fought alone."

Fazeela Bibi, a 17-year-old resident of the "100 Quarters" slum, says Christians are unfairly treated in Pakistan but also acknowledges that the community is not organized. Wajahat S. Khan / NBC News
Masih, the retired cook, has been unsuccessfully trying for 14 months to meet his elected local representative to request repairs for a broken electric transformer. He wasn't too optimistic about the future.

"I'm pretty sure that we will remain living like this," he said. "That's how it's been for 67 years. There are no angels in Islamabad. Only politicians." 

Christian Girl Banned From Muslim-Only School Bathroom

A Christian schoolgirl was denied access to a bathroom only for the use of Muslim students by her headteacher, who then abused her verbally, and, by some accounts, physically.

A Christian girl in Pakistan was denied access to a school bathroom as it was only for Muslim pupils, according to local media outlet The Daily Pakistan.

The headmistress of the school in Faisalabad forbade the pupil, named as Sara Bibi, from using the bathroom and called her a kafir, a derogatory slur for non-Muslims. 

After Senator Sherry Rehman brought the matter to the attention of the Senate of Pakistan, Chairman Raza Rabbani ordered an inquiry into the event.

Some media reports allege that the headmistress beat up Sara Bibi and locked her in the bathroom until the end of the school day (for three hours). 

Christians are frequently persecuted in Pakistan and are frequently targeted under blasphemy laws. They also often face threats and difficulties constructing Churches.

Below is an excellant video on the state of Christians in Pakistan. It explains the history of the 3rd largest country in Islam and how it got to the condition it is now in as far as freedom of religion is concerned. 8.5 minutes - it's well worth watching.

Catholic Radio TV Net charts the situation of Christians in Pakistan: