Pakistan's Bible Ban

Pakistan’s Bible Ban [Excerpts]

Pakistan’s Islamist party, Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islami (JUI), has petitioned to have the Bible banned from Pakistan because it violates the nation’s notorious blasphemy laws. The move by the JUI is just the latest episode in the ongoing and increasingly deadly persecution of Christians in that Islamic nation.

According to JUI leader Maulana Abdul Rauf Farooqi, the Bible contains passages that show biblical figures whom Muslims regard as prophets (such as Abraham and Solomon) to be engaging in “a variety of moral crimes.” As such, the JUI has called on Pakistan’s supreme court to have the entire Book banned from the country if the offending passages are not removed.

While the JUI acknowledged its petition was partially in response to the Koran burning organized by Florida pastor Terry Jones in March 2011, it also dismissed the notion that banning the Christian Bible would cause additional trouble between Muslims and Christians.

Unfortunately, that is not what Pakistan’s tiny Christian community believes. Pakistani Christians have found themselves under continuous assault from both government authorities and Islamist mobs. That may explain why Pakistan’s Christian leaders urged restraint in wake of the Bible suit, fearful of further antagonizing Pakistan’s more fervent Muslims.

For his part, Farooqi was confident that Pakistan’s highest court would side with the JUI petition. However, his certainty may have less to do with the merits of his case than with the fact that Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have proven to be a reliable legal cudgel with which to bankrupt, beat, jail and kill Christians.

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/06/14/banning-bibles/