Pope Urges Blasphemy-Law Repeal

[TruthSeeker]

Pope Urges Blasphemy-Law Repeal

By THE NEW YORK TIMES, January 10, 2011


MILAN — In a forceful appeal for religious freedom, Pope Benedict XVI urged Pakistan on Monday to repeal contentious blasphemy laws as he called on governments worldwide to do more to enable Christians to practice their faith without violence, intolerance or restriction.

Pope Benedict XVI spoke to diplomats at the Vatican on Monday.

The pope was speaking in an annual address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican, a long-scheduled event. But this year his words came after bomb attacks in Iraq and Egypt — the most recent in the Egyptian city of Alexandria less than two weeks ago — and the assassination last week of a leading Pakistani politician who had opposed his country’s law that makes blasphemy against Islam punishable by death.

The politician, Salman Taseer, had campaigned against the law and had petitioned the government to re-examine the case of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was sentenced to death last November under the legislation.

Mr. Taseer’s “tragic murder,” the pope said, “shows the urgent need to make progress in this direction: the worship of God furthers fraternity and love, not hatred and division.”

Referring to the attacks on Christians in Iraq and Egypt, Benedict called on the governments of those predominantly Muslim countries to adopt “effective measures” to better protect religious minorities. Urging Pakistan to repeal its blasphemy law, the pope said the legislation was being used “as a pretext for acts of injustice and violence against religious minorities.”

The pope has often spoken out against religious intolerance, but his condemnations increased after recent attacks on Christian communities in several countries, including Nigeria and the Philippines, where churches were bombed during the recent holidays.

The plight of Christians in the Middle East has been of particular concern to the Vatican, which hosted a meeting of bishops in October to address the issue.

The concerns have deepened in recent months in the face of what clerics see as sustained violence. After a New Year’s Mass at a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria, a suicide bomber killed at least 23 people and wounded nearly 100. In October, a siege at a Baghdad church killed 53 people, prompting yet another exodus of Christians from the country.

On Monday, the pope cited a message to Christians in the Middle East that he delivered during the bishop’s synod in October. “It is natural,” he said, that “they should enjoy all the rights of citizenship, freedom of conscience, freedom of worship and freedom in education, teaching and the use of the mass media.”

The pope also took Western nations to task for marginalizing religion and minimizing its role in contemporary society, and he called for dialogue between faiths to promote “a common commitment to recognizing and promoting the religious freedom of each person and community.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/world/europe/11pope.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

 

[Shattered]

Pope wants the blasphemy law repealed haha. thats new to me i expected him to be the last person on the earth to do that. He should take care of his sh*t first you know the pedophile cover up , Comparing seculars to nazis, equal rights for gays and one of the most stupid thing that he ever said "condom does not prevent HIV" as much as i think the law is stupid i find it quite ironic that the pope is condeming it.

 

[desiman]

Pope wants the blasphemy law repealed haha. thats new to me i expected him to be the last person on the earth to do that. He should take care of his sh*t first you know the pedophile cover up , Comparing seculars to nazis, equal rights for gays and one of the most stupid thing that he ever said "condom does not prevent HIV" as much as i think the law is stupid i find it quite ironic that the pope is condeming it.

A Christian anywhere in the world does not get killed for saying that a Condom does prevent HIV. The Pope expressed his personal opinion, he did not call it gods word or labelled it to be religious. Get your facts right first.

 

[Shattered]

A Christian anywhere in the world does not get killed for saying that a Condom does prevent HIV. The Pope expressed his personal opinion, he did not call it gods word or labelled it to be religious. Get your facts right first.

Yes i do agree they don't .but what about those people in africa who beleived in what he said and didn't use condoms :/.

and though i could be wrong about that since i my self don't have full information on the incident but you can't turn away from the other points he make. I have a few friends who are christian and also beleive he should be behind bars for the pedophile cover up.

Though shifting the bit more towards the law. I do beleive it need to be changed but eh who am i to question it. when ever some one on the site says how the baslphemy law should be repleaed they get the hell trolled out of them. Though its sad to see that most pakistanis suport it.

Aploigise for the grammer i am in a hurry as always .

 

[graphican]

In a forceful appeal for religious freedom, Pope Benedict XVI urged Pakistan on Monday to repeal contentious blasphemy laws as he called on governments worldwide to do more to enable Christians to practice their faith without violence, intolerance or restriction.

If you meet Pope Benedict sometime in future, please tell him that most of the people punished under this law were Muslims themselves.

If you live in Pakistan, you go by the rules this country has. If Pope Benedict has suggestions to improve the law for all the Pakistanis, his suggestions are welcome but this law is applied to all people and not just Christians. Also, this doesn't hinder anybody including Christians to perform their religious duties at all.. as long as religious practices doesn't include blasphemy rituals against Prophet of Islam.

 

[Karachiite]

If there is a law then it should be equal for all. This means the person who insults any Hindu gods, Jesus, Ahmadi Prophets,Yahweh, David, Buddha or any other religious figure should be sent to death row as well.

 

[Aslan]

If you meet Pope Benedict sometime in future, please tell him that most of the people punished under this law were Muslims themselves.

If you live in Pakistan, you go by the rules this country has. If Pope Benedict has suggestions to improve the law for all the Pakistanis, his suggestions are welcome but this law is applied to all people and not just Christians. Also, this doesn't hinder anybody including Christians to perform their religious duties at all.. as long as religious practices doesn't include blasphemy rituals against Prophet of Islam.

Aint he the same dude who not a long time ago was insulting Islam. Why should I take this clown seriously when he himself cant respect other religions and is more content with scoring brownie points. Note to pope yes the law has some flaws, because it gets miss used at times, but tell me this please why are u so worried about this law now when a christian woman is at stake, was your humanity dead when it was being applied to Muslims, also was and still is your humanity dead when thousands of Muslims have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and all I hear from your nazi mouth is that how the christians are being targeted in Iraq.
And please keep the below picture handy it will keep reminding you of your roots, and what your own vatican and popes were involved in not a long time agao.

 

[ice_man]

damn!!! this guy is just adding more fuel to the fire!!!! he is no different from the mullahs!

I think the mullahs and the pope should have a cage match!!!! why should he comment on an issue that will just make mullahs say stuff like whoever tries to change the blasphemy law is not a muslim and stuff!

 

[Safriz]

To hell with these blasphemy threads popping up like mushrooms...Cant you guys talk about something else? something more important?

 

[Devil Soul]

its really funny that the pope wants/asking Pakistan to repeal the blasphemy law, while in his own backyard the euro keeps on approving law forbidding Muslims women to wear head scrap etc... bravo Pope

 

[JonAsad]

Pope is a hypocrite.

 

[alam.saquiba]

good to read... found here, written by some pakistani intellectual

Muslims have convinced themselves that they are super-humans. They believe that the world should be very attentive to the Muslims’ religious and cultural sensitivities while they can persecute any minority

On an international level, people from every religion exchange greeting cards to commemorate different occasions. We all know that most of these cards are meant for the wastebasket. What if a Christian or Jew saw a Muslim salesperson throwing his card with Jesus or Moses’ name on it and called the police to register a case of blasphemy against him/her and the police arrested the violator? Most western readers would laugh out loud at this unlikely scenario but it is not a laughing matter for a physician from Hyderabad, Pakistan, who, unwittingly, threw a Muslim’s visiting card in the trash basket. He apologised to the offended party and yet the police arrested him under pressure from religious fanatics.

The manner in which the religious parties are campaigning for Aasia Bibi’s hanging has given me many nightmares while living in the US capital. What if the Bible belt of the southern states in the US became as influential as the religious parties in Pakistan? The US Congress and Senate would add a constitutional amendment on blasphemy laws according to which anyone who believes in any prophet after Jesus would be sentenced to death. Under pressure from Washington, most European and South American countries and those with majority Christian populations would follow suit in making the Christian blasphemy law. Hindus, Buddhists and people of other religions would also be forced to pass such laws. What kind of world would we live in if all that should take place?

Whatever happens, the Blasphemy Law will be fully operational against Muslims because they were the ones who set the precedent. This means that the millions of Muslims living in non-Islamic countries would face persecution and may even be led to the gallows. Fundamentalists and extremists of every religion will justify Muslim persecution on the basis of their belief in a prophet who came after Jesus and other prophets and the way the people believing in this religion have been targeting Christians and other minorities in their own countries.

Lucky for the Muslims living in the US and other non-Islamic countries that no nation has blasphemy laws and Muslims can throw any greeting card in the wastebasket or even openly put down other religions without fear of reprisal. Of course, after 9/11, Muslims may be screened more at airports. Even the Indian ambassador to Washington, Ms Meera Shankar, was put through a body search for which India has lodged a strong protest with the US. One can see regular white Americans also being humbled at airports. Therefore, discrimination is there but Muslims never realise that they have worse practices in their own countries. They do not see a connection between the liberties they enjoy abroad in contrast to the persecution of minorities in their homelands.

Furthermore, Muslims in the US and other European countries are not taking discrimination lying down; they are fighting for their equal rights. Nowadays, US-based Muslim organisations are campaigning for the US government to allow them to send zakat money to other countries. The US put many restrictions on such charities under the pretext that such money is being used to fund Muslim terrorist organisations. The point is that Muslim organisations can challenge such laws publicly despite American sensitivity about the role of charitable organisations in funding jihad.

While Muslims enjoy such liberties in the western world, they are intolerant towards minorities in their own countries. Religious parties take the most hypocritical positions at home and abroad. They agitate for equal rights in the west and demonstrate to maintain the Blasphemy Law and hang a poor rural Christian like Aasia Bibi in Pakistan. Religious parties want democratic freedom when it comes to their own interests but become fascists when it is someone else’s right. For example, the Jamaat-e-Islami wants pure democracy and transparency in the country but in institutions under their control, like the Punjab University, they become a corrupt, tyrannical force. A similar pattern is repeated wherever religious parties gain control, be it in FATA or an educational institution.

Aasia Bibi’s case does not make much sense. Having lived with many rural Christians — who are mostly very poor and are considered untouchables — I know that these poor souls are incapable of committing the crimes they are accused of. Most of the time, the grudging ‘Muslim masters’ register such cases to punish them for disobeying or refusing to do free work. Muslim organisations are up in arms to free Aafia Siddiqui for violating US laws but show no compassion for Aasia Bibi. Obviously, this is a crude example of double standards.

Somehow, Muslims have convinced themselves that they are super-humans. They believe that the world should be very attentive to the Muslims’ religious and cultural sensitivities while they can persecute any minority. Religious minorities are persecuted in other countries as well (Christian persecution in India is widespread). However, the difference is that, unlike India and other countries, Pakistan’s constitution provides the grounds for minority discrimination. The Blasphemy Law has become a tool and rallying point for religious organisations for their continuous domination of the political space.

Presently, the religious parties are using the Blasphemy Law for a proxy war. The support for religious causes has been going down because of terrorist acts by the Taliban and other jihadi groups. Therefore, the campaign for the preservation of the Blasphemy Law is being deployed to regain lost ground and to keep their monopoly over the ideological discourse. Actually, this is a smokescreen to defend the Taliban and other jihadis and provide the ideological basis for the continuation of terrorism.

The mainstream parties are either spineless or secretly in agreement with the mullahs. Different levels of administration, security agencies and even some courts are not enlightened enough to understand the negative impact of such discriminatory practices.

While having laws like blasphemy and indulging in the persecution of poor minorities, Pakistan is never going to be a respectable country in the world community. Which foreign business will invest in Pakistan if they fear that the mistake of throwing away a business card can cost them their lives? However, the religious monopoly over the ideological discourse and madness is going to dominate the country until a counter-movement takes shape.

 

[AstanoshKhan]

The pope should just mind his own business.

 

[Awesome]

Not a fan of the pope, and his comments will only help Christianizing the efforts for Secularization in Pakistan.

Outsiders should really let Pakistanis handle this.

 

[PlanetWarrior]

The pope should just mind his own business.

But His Holiness is minding his own business. Pakistan has sentenced a christian for offending the Blasphemy laws. The Pope represents the christians. Therefore the Pope is going about his business in calling for a repeal of that law.