Christians – Faith Matters

Blasphemy Continues to Fuel Extremism in Pakistan & Europe

Faith Matters — Sat, 26 Oct 2024 14:25:04 +0000

About six weeks ago, a 32 year old doctor in the Sindh province in Pakistan was shot by police. Shah Nawaz was killed by police who suggested that he was resisting arrest after being accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The blasphemy charge was that he had shared ‘blasphemous’ content on social media.

Nawaz’s family reject this charge and say that he was giving himself up and that he was killed by a member of the local police force on the basis that he had allegedly promoted ‘blasphemous’ content.

This killing came on the heels of another murder on September the 12th 2024, where a 52 year old man was killed in custody in Balochistan and who was being held on the basis of spurious ‘blasphemy’ charges.

Judiciary Involvement in Blasphemy

We must not forget that these killings and the charges of ‘blasphemy’ come on the back of a range of cases that have mainly involved the beleaguered Christian community in Pakistan, with the most high profile case being that of Asia Bibi.

Following on from Asia Bibi’s case, in May 2020, Aneeqa Ateeq a 26 year old Muslim woman was arrested in May 2020 and charged with circulating ‘blasphemous material’ on her Whatsapp messages. A court in Rawalpindi subsequently found Ateeq guilty and gave her a 20 year jail sentence and ordered her to be ‘hanged by her neck till she is dead”.

In 2021, a Pakistani Christian, Shagufta Kiran, was arrested for posting ‘blasphemous’ content on her Whatsapp messaging app in September 2020. The 40 year old mother of four was recently found guilty and has been sentenced to death.

The list of Christians and Muslims who have been accused of blasphemy continues to rise in Pakistan on the back of the introduction of ‘blasphemy’ as a political tool by the Islamist extremist group, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP). Such has been the spread of their narrative that the lives of minorities and those who even question faith, are at risk. The impacts of ‘blasphemy’ are therefore felt by Christian and Ahmadi communities who have borne the brunt of the actions of the state in denying them the most basic of rights.

Faith Matters will continue to highlight these human rights abuses and to highlight the lives of those affected by the ‘blasphemy police’ and extremists in Pakistan who seek to target minorities. Furthermore, the U.K. Government has not done enough in highlighting and challenging the human rights abuses around ‘blasphemy’ that are becoming pervasive in the country. The meekness of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) on this matter, is unacceptable.

Minister wishes no revenge after bombers killed his mother and 19 relatives

Faith Matters — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 23:32:58 +0000

A minister whose mother and 19 other family members were murdered by terrorists a decade ago has told of how he was able to resist revenge.

Rev Aftab Gohar says he found peace through Jesus Christ after a double suicide bomber attack at All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan on September 22 2013.

There were 122 people killed and 250 injured in the bombings.

The parishioners had just left the church for a meal in the grounds when the bombers struck.

Among them was Mr Gohar’s 79-year-old mother, Iqbal Gohar, as well as his nieces, nephews, cousins, uncles, aunts and friends.

The minister, who oversees Eddleston, Peebles Old Parish, and Stobo and Drumelzier churches in the Scottish Borders, said his relatives “died for their faith”.

Although Pakistan’s official religion is Islam, the country’s constitution gives citizens freedom of faith.

However, religious minorities are often attacked and the country’s blasphemy laws have been used to discriminate against non-Muslims.

Mr Gohar believes the law is used as a means to justify attacks, such as a number of church and house burnings in Jaranwala near Faisalabad, Pakistan, last month.

Open Doors, a charity that supports persecuted Christians around the world, ranked Pakistan in seventh place in its top 50 countries where Christian persecution is most rife.

Reflecting on the attack, Mr Gohar said: “It was a very hard time for us all and I was questioning ‘why did it happen to those who were very regular churchgoers?’

“Those who didn’t go to church on that day, did they do the right thing?

“The Bible says ‘when you are persecuted because of your faith in Jesus, you are blessed’. They all died for their faith.

“It was hard for me to forgive those responsible but with the strength of God I did so and freed myself from the extra burden of hatred and revenge.”

He added: “On the cross, Jesus prayed for those who were crucifying him: ‘Forgive them Father, they don’t know what they are doing’.

“Jesus said, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ – a lesson that some people find impossible to follow.”

Last week Mr Gohar and a number of campaigners handed a petition to Syed Zahid Raza, consul general of Pakistan for Scotland and Northern Ireland, at the Consulate of Pakistan in Glasgow.

The petition called on Pakistan’s government to improve safety for religious minorities, and for the blasphemy law to include punishing those who destroy Bibles or burn down churches and homes.

Mr Gohar says he was inspired by Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch watchmaker who helped Jewish people escape the Nazis during the Holocaust.

The minister commented: “She said ‘forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuff of hatred’.

“It is a power that breaks chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.”

The minister was ordained into the Church of Pakistan in 1995, having come to Scotland to study at the University of Edinburgh in 1998-1999.

He later came back to Scotland to work as a full-time minister in 2008.

Mr Gohar and his wife Samina and their two adult sons, Shahan and Zeeshan, are now British citizens.

Shahan married in Pakistan last year.

Mr Gohar says the loss of his family was felt strongly at the wedding.

Rt Rev Sally Foster-Fulton, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said: “Our thoughts and prayers are with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Pakistan as they mark the anniversary of this horrific and unjustified attack on peaceful churchgoers.

“We are united in sorrow as we reflect on the impact this atrocity had on the families of the victims and survivors and sadly Christians continue to be persecuted today.”

She added: “The Church continues to engage with ecumenical and international partners on the misuse of the blasphemy law and we call on the government of Pakistan to redouble its efforts to protect minority groups.”

The Consulate of Pakistan in Glasgow was contacted for comment.

Pakistan is not Safe for Christians Any More

Faith Matters — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 19:51:42 +0000

OPINION – FAITH MATTERS

We rarely take a position as an organisation, to suggest that a country is no longer safe for Christians. However, repeated attacks against Christians in Pakistan and the recent attacks on churches and Christians in Jaranwala, have one thing in common. They are based on Christians simply being accused of blasphemy.

Repeated governments of Pakistan have failed to stop such attacks. They have failed to challenge and implement educational measures in schools to defend the rights of minorities, yet Pakistan has relied on western aid and arms for decades. It is time that Pakistan be told that such attacks against Christians cannot be tolerated without serious impacts on exports to the country.

Many Pakistani politicians have played a dual approach in their relations with the West. They have talked about challenging extremism and terrorism, whilst quietly allowing Islamist extremists to operate from Pakistan. Let us not forget that Bin Laden was finally found to be resident in Abbottabad and it beggars belief that Government politicians and officials played the feigned ignorance approach to his residence in the country even though he was living in Pakistan for years.

We are at a point where Christians in Pakistan feel unsafe and liable to attack. This is not felt in a small section of Pakistani Christians but throughout the community. No doubt, they will be blamed for further ills and each attack is growing more violent and widespread against this vulnerable community.

Pakistan is no longer safe for Christians. We need to be clear that their lives are not cheap and that any further attacks will see sanctions and trade embargoes on the country.

Hindus and Muslim men at greater risk of dying with Covid in pandemic

Faith Matters — Thu, 13 May 2021 15:55:36 +0000

Hindus and Muslim men have had a disproportionately high risk of dying with coronavirus throughout the pandemic compared with Christians, figures suggest.

After adjusting for age, location, socio-demographic factors and certain pre-existing health conditions, Hindus and Muslim men were still more likely to die with Covid-19, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The ONS looked at mortality rates among religious groups between January 2020 and February 2021 and compared differences between both waves of the pandemic, adjusting these for age and other factors.

It defined the second wave as deaths occurring from September 12 2020 onwards, but noted that this analysis is provisional as it only covers up to February 28 2021.

It found that Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Jewish people all had an increased Covid-19 mortality rate compared with Christians across the whole period when adjusting for age.

People who identified as having no religion were 20% less likely to die than the Christian group.

When taking into account location, measures of disadvantage, occupation and living arrangements, and pre-pandemic health status, rates for Jewish and Sikh women were similar to those for Christian women.

But rates for Muslims, Hindus, and Jewish and Sikh men remained significantly higher.

Muslim men were 70% more likely to die with Covid-19 than Christian men, the ONS analysis found.

Muslim women had a 30% greater risk of dying with coronavirus, while for Hindu men it was 30% and for Hindu women it was 20%.

Jewish men had a 20% greater risk and Sikh men a 10% greater risk.

For Jewish and Buddhist men, the excess risk was only observed in the first wave.

Excess risk for Sikhs and Muslim women was only observed in the second wave.

The ONS said the factors it adjusted for account for a large proportion, but not all, of the additional risk.

The residual unexplained risk may be due to factors it did not consider, such as some pre-existing health conditions.

For some religious groups there is considerable overlap with ethnic background, meaning it is difficult to separate any association between risk and religion from risk and ethnicity.

Credit: PA News

Pope urges Iraq to embrace its Christians on historic visit

Faith Matters — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 16:48:03 +0000

Pope Francis has urged Iraqis to treat their Christian brothers as a precious resource to protect, not an “obstacle” to eliminate, as he opened the first papal visit to Iraq with a plea for tolerance and fraternity among Christians and Muslims.

Francis brushed aside the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns to resume his globe-trotting papacy after a year-long gap under Covid-19 lockdown in Vatican City.

His primary aim over the weekend is to encourage Iraq’s dwindling number of Christians, who were violently persecuted by the so-called Islamic State group and still face discrimination by the Shiite majority, to stay and help rebuild the country devastated by wars and strife.

“Only if we learn to look beyond our differences and see each other as members of the same human family will we be able to begin an effective process of rebuilding and leave to future generations a better, more just and more humane world,” Francis told Iraqi authorities in his welcoming address.

The 84-year-old donned a facemask during the flight from Rome and throughout all his protocol visits, as did his hosts, but the masks came off when the leaders sat down to talk, and social distancing and other health measures appeared lax at the airport and on the streets of Baghdad, despite the country’s worsening Covid-19 outbreak.

Francis was transported around Baghdad in what Iraqi security officials said was an armoured black BMW, flanked by rows of police on siren-blaring motorcycles. It was believed to be the first time Francis had used a bulletproof car.

Iraqis seemed keen to welcome Francis and the global attention his visit was bringing, with some lining the road to cheer his motorcade and banners and posters hanging high in central Baghdad depicting Francis with the slogan “We are all Brothers”.

In central Tahrir Square, a mock tree was erected emblazoned with the Vatican emblem, while Iraqi and Vatican flags lined empty streets.

The government is eager to show off the relative security it has achieved after years of wars and its defeat of the IS insurgency.

Francis’s first main event was a pomp-filled courtesy visit with President Barham Salih at the Baghdad palace inside the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Afterwards, Francis told Mr Salih and other Iraqi officials that Christians and other minorities should not be considered second-class citizens in Iraq but deserve to have the same rights and protections as the Shiite Muslim majority.

“The religious, cultural and ethnic diversity that has been a hallmark of Iraqi society for millennia is a precious resource on which to draw, not an obstacle to eliminate,” he said.

“Iraq today is called to show everyone, especially in the Middle East, that diversity, instead of giving rise to conflict, should lead to harmonious co-operation in the life of society.”

Mr Salih echoed his call and praised Francis for coming to make it in person in Iraq despite the pandemic and security concerns.

“The East cannot be imagined without Christians,” he said. “The continued migration of Christians from the countries of the east will have dire consequences for the ability of the people from the same region to live together.”

Christians once constituted a sizeable minority in Iraq, estimated at around 1.4 million, but their numbers began to fall after the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein opened a wave of instability in which militants repeatedly targeted Christians.

They received a further blow when IS militants in 2014 swept through northern Iraq, including traditionally Christian towns across the Nineveh plains, some of which date from the time of Christ.

Their extremist version of Islam forced residents to flee to the neighbouring Kurdish region or further afield.

Few have returned — estimates suggest there are fewer than 300,000 Christians still in Iraq and many of those remain displaced from their homes.

Poland rejects international criticism over LGBT rights

Faith Matters — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 16:13:29 +0000

Polish leaders have rejected suggestions that LGBT people are deprived of any of their rights in the country.

The rejection follows an open letter from 50 ambassadors and international representatives citing a need to work for “non-discrimination, tolerance and mutual acceptance”.

The ambassadors’ appeal comes as an increasingly visible LGBT community in Poland has faced a backlash from the right-wing government, many local communities and the Catholic church.

“Human rights are universal and everyone, including LGBTI persons, are entitled to their full enjoyment,” the letter said, using the acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he agreed that every person deserves respect but that he completely disagreed with the ambassadors’ claim that LGBT people were being deprived of that.

Mr Morawiecki said at a news conference: “To the dear ambassadors, I can only say that tolerance belongs to Polish DNA. Nobody needs to teach us tolerance, because we are a nation that has learned such tolerance for centuries and we have given many testimonies to the history of such tolerance.”

Some of Poland’s leaders, including the president and MPs from the ruling party, have cast the movement for civil rights for LGBT people as a threat to traditional families. President Andrzej Duda won a second term this summer after calling LGBT rights an “ideology” more dangerous than communism.

Meanwhile, dozens of towns in conservative parts of eastern and southern Poland have passed mostly symbolic resolutions declaring themselves to be free from “LGBT ideology”. Many of the declarations express the view that young people will be demoralised if confronted by the issue.

“Human Rights are not an ideology – they are universal,” US ambassador Georgette Mosbacher tweeted. “50 Ambassadors and Representatives agree.”

Joachim Brudzinski, deputy head of the ruling Law and Justice party who is now a European Parliament member, shot back at Ms Mosbacher on Monday, saying “we in Poland also agree”.

“Therefore, we are waiting with hope for the next letter, this time in defence of murdered Christians, imprisoned #ProLife activists, people dismissed from work and persecuted for quoting the Bible, people subjected to euthanasia against their will,” he wrote on Twitter, along with some other examples of alleged abuse of Christians.

It was not exactly clear what Mr Brudzinski was referring to. Poland is a predominantly Catholic nation where Christians do not face persecution and where abortion is illegal in most cases and euthanasia is outlawed. In one case, however, an IKEA employee in Poland was fired for citing Biblical passages to suggest gay people should be killed. The current government has spoken in the employee’s defence and a state prosecutor is suing the IKEA manager who fired him.

READ: The Changing Face of Hate in Poland: From Antisemitism to Anti-Muslim Racism

If you can’t as a Persecuted Christian Get Asylum in the UK, then Something Warped is Happening

Faith Matters — Sun, 02 Dec 2018 02:14:40 +0000

The Times reports today that the lawyer for persecuted Christian, Asia Bibi, has lambasted the Prime Minister and asked that she stand up for persecuted Christians.

The lawyer, Saif ul-Malook, questioned why the Government had not provided asylum for Asia Bib and stated that the Christian world campaigned for Asia and has now turned its back on her.

The Asia Bibi case has already demonstrated that Pakistan is teetering on the verge of being held ransom to religious Islamist zealots. Yet, for Britain to deny asylum to a woman who has spent 8 years in jail because of trumped up charges of blasphemy, shows that there is a drift in this country towards ‘risk management’ whilst at the expense of the lives of the most vulnerable.

The Asia Bibi possibly shows how weak our own country has become in the face of ‘risk’ and in going out of its way to ensure that other communities and cohesion are not blighted. What it seems to many people, is that a beleaguered woman, persecuted for being a Christian, is being thrown under the bus by a majority Christian nation in the hope that her presence does not affect the status quo.

Asia Bibi deserves asylum in the United Kingdom and any individuals or groups who dislike that notion should consider what their values are based on and their space in our country. Anything short of asylum for Asia Bibi means that we no longer care about the sick and the weak. Also, if it turns out that advice has been given to the Prime Minister that Asia’s presence in the UK would be a security risk, this should be exposed and challenged all the way. There is no reason why Asia Bibi should not be with us.

Christians want marriages recognised in Morocco

Faith Matters — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 10:50:55 +0000

Christian convert Loubna and her husband Kamal marry in a small ceremony in a meeting room of a human rights group in the Moroccan capital, ignoring threats from people in their conservative hometown in the north of the Muslim kingdom.

The couple are part of a tiny minority who have converted to Christianity and are demanding legal recognition of their marriage. Islam is the religion of state in predominantly Sunni Muslim Morocco where only Muslim and Jewish marriages are deemed legal.

“From now on I have to wear niqab (face veil) if I want to walk in the streets of my hometown,” Loubna said after the ceremony.

The centuries-old tiny Jewish community is recognised in the constitution as part of the Moroccan identity. The roughly 3,000 Jews have their courts governing personal status matters as well as inheritance and burial.

“We want to be treated on an equal footing with Moroccan Jews,” said Chouaib El Fatihi, coordinator of the Christian committee at the Moroccan association for religious rights and freedoms.

“We want to be recognised as Moroccan Christian citizens and to enjoy the right to legal marriages and burial ceremonies according to our religion,” he said.

By law, only foreign Christians are allowed to collectively worship in churches, many set up during the French colonial era, and proselytism is punishable by up to three years in prison.

FAITH

Adam Rabati and his wife Farah Tarneem, a Christian couple, refuse to get married according to the Moroccan family code based on sharia.

In a Rabat suburb, the couple live in an apartment-turned-church receiving converts.

“We are running the risk of being accused of fornication punishable under the penal code,” said Adam, who does not have a legal marriage certificate.

Farah, who embraced Christianity two years ago, said obtaining the certificate includes traditions that contradict her faith.

“We suffer from discrimination by authorities which do not recognise us as Moroccan Christians coupled with social pressure and harassment because of our choice of faith,” she said.

The native Christian community is estimated by local leaders at more than 50,000 but no official statistics exist.

In the wake of 2011 “Arab Spring” protests, Morocco adopted a new constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression and belief. The country has also marketed itself as an oasis of religious tolerance, offering training to preachers from Africa and Europe on moderate Islam to counter extremism.

“Authorities should not continue their double speak on religious rights,” said Mohamed Nouhi, head of Moroccan rights organisation IMDH.

The U.S. State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom Report criticises Morocco for restrictions on native Christians, Shi’ite Muslims and members of the Bahai faith.

Responding to a Reuters request for comment at a regular news briefing, government spokesperson Mustapha El Khalfi said Morocco is a country of religious tolerance and freedoms.

“The U.S. State Department report contains erroneous allegations and judgments that are not based on scientific data,” he said.

Christians should not be second-class citizens, cardinal tells Saudi Arabia

Faith Matters — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 15:29:38 +0000

A senior Vatican official who last week made a historic visit to Saudi Arabia says he told authorities in the kingdom, where non-Muslim worship is banned, that Christians cannot be considered second-class citizens.

French cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran’s trip, the first by such a senior Catholic figure, raised hopes of more openness in the kingdom, which is home to Islam’s holiest sites but bans the practice of other faiths. It included a meeting with King Salman, his first with a Catholic official.

“I think all religions are faced with two dangers: terrorism and ignorance,” Tauran, who is head of the Vatican’s Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, told Vatican Radio.

“During my meetings, I insisted very much on this point, that Christians and non-Muslims are spoken of well in schools and that they are never considered second-class citizens,” he said.

Tauran, 75, who signed a cooperation accord with Saudi authorities, said he sensed that they wanted “to show that even in Saudi Arabia there is the possibility of discussion, and therefore of changing the country’s image”.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has promised to promote interfaith dialogue as part of his domestic reforms in the deeply conservative kingdom.

The young prince has rocketed to the pinnacle of power, pushing a reform agenda called Vision 2030 aimed at weaning the country off oil and introducing social changes.

As part of his push for a more moderate Islam, the crown prince has loosened social restrictions, scaling back the role of religious police and permitting public concerts. The government also announced plans to allow women to drive this year.

“The new generation can really help ‘change gears,’ in a certain sense,” Tauran said.

Tauran’s visit followed a flurry of meetings between senior Saudi figures and representatives of other Christian denominations.

Last month in London, the Crown Prince met the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who is spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican communion.

Lebanon’s Christian Maronite Patriarch visited Saudi Arabia in November. Patriarch Beshara al-Rai heads the Maronite church, which has a presence in Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus and follows an Eastern rite of the Roman Catholic church.

Most Christians in Saudi Arabia are migrant workers and diplomats. Since churches are banned, they worship in private homes.

In 1995, on the same day Rome’s first mosque opened with the Vatican’s blessing, the late Pope John Paul pointedly noted in a speech that “In some Islamic countries, similar signs of recognition of religious freedom are lacking”.

Closure of the Holy Sepulchre is a Dark Day for All

Faith Matters — Sun, 25 Feb 2018 19:18:29 +0000

The Holy Sepulchre holds a sacred meaning for Muslims as well as Christians. Many Jerusalemite Muslims light candles and revere both Mary and Jesus, in part hoping that they maybe blessed in some way by these holy figures. This is highlighted through this tweet from Ghanem Nuseibeh, whose family members were entrusted with the keys to the Holy Sepulchre, as a Jerusalemite Muslim family. They have symbolically held the keys to the Holy Sepulchre for generations.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Jerusalemites regardless of faith, is more than a Church. So many Muslim Jerusalemites regularly light candles at tomb of Christ, praying for something, as I have done. Today is a sad sad day for us.

— Ghanem Nuseibeh (@gnuseibeh) February 25, 2018

A recent bill by lawmaker Rachel Azaria, who sponsored the legislation, would mean that the State could expropriate land in Jerusalem sold by churches to private real estate firms in recent years. This has caused concern since the Church is a major landowner in Jerusalem and opens up racial and religious fault lines as every inch of Jerusalem is historically contested and with ramifications globally for faith communities.

Such a move is even more startling since the closure of the Sepulchre places a focus on the bill and does nothing for the image of the State in the eyes of many Christians. In fact, it can be regarded as a retrograde move, playing on sensitivities at a time when the US Embassy move to Jerusalem has already inflamed tensions in some communities. More than ever, stable and calm heads are needed rather than inflammatory pieces of legislation and moves that irritate the fragile balance and peace that is within Jerusalem.

Further posts by Nuseibeh also reflect a change in the position of liberal and progressive Palestinian voices, which need to be heard if there is to be any form of peace in the future.

Closure of Church of The Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, holiest site in Christiandom is beyond shocking. My family have for over 13 centuries have been guarding it to ensure it is open for freedom of worship of all denominations. Israel’s action that led to closure is unacceptable

— Ghanem Nuseibeh (@gnuseibeh) February 25, 2018

Politics aside, Israel’s action against churches harms Israel as much as the churches. Someone should tell Israeli politicians not to over-rely on Trump. They need Arabs, Christian and Muslim, more than American evangelicals

— Ghanem Nuseibeh (@gnuseibeh) February 25, 2018

The Holy Sepulchre is a symbol of hope at a time when darkness seems to be taking over parts of the global political landscape. The longer is remains closed, the longer the damage to the reputation of Israel and in the eyes of both Christians and Muslims. No doubt, many Jews will also see this as a retrograde move by the State of Israel. However, we want to highlight the comments made by Nuseibeh:

“Israel’s action against churches harms Israel as much as the churches. Someone should tell Israeli politicians not to over-rely on Trump. They need Arab, Christian and Muslim (s), more than American Evangelicals”.