From: sg68135@hotmail.com   
      
   Bible Ban Sought By Islamists in Pakistan   
   Bishop of Lahore Calls for Calm   
      
   Lahore, Pakistan, JUNE 7, 2011 (Zenit.org).- An Islamist politcal   
   party in Pakistan has called on the country's Supreme Court to   
   investigate "blasphemous" and "pornographic" passages of the Bible,   
   appealing to Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law. In response, the   
   Catholic bishop of Lahore has appealed to the faithful to resist this   
   provocation and asked for prayer and patience.   
      
   The Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islami party held a press conference at a mosque in   
   the city of Lahore in which the party leader, Maulana Abdul Rauf   
   Farooqi, criticized certain passages of the bible that portrayed some   
   prophets as sinners, guilty of "a variety of moral crimes, which   
   undermine the sanctity of the holy figures."   
      
   Although Islam considers Old and New Testament figures to be part of   
   their own spiritual tradition, Farooqi objects to their portrayal in   
   the Bible as sinners, citing the story of King David's adultery and   
   facilitation of the killing of Bathsheba's husband as an example.   
      
   The party has informally petitioned the Supreme Court of Pakistan to   
   declare certain Biblical passages "blasphemous" and also announced   
   that their lawyers would appeal for a formal banning of the Bible in   
   Pakistan if the Court fails to meet their demands. Farooqi declared   
   the campaign to be a direct response to the controversial Gainsville,   
   Florida, pastor Terry Jones' Koran-burning episode in March.   
      
   That same month a Pakistani man tried to burn a copy of the Bible in   
   the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Lahore but was stopped at the gates by   
   guards and proceeded to burn his copy there.   
      
   Predictable provocation   
      
   Bishop Shaw said the party's campaign was unlikely to succeed as a   
   majority of Pakistani Muslims respect the Christian Bible.   
      
   In an interview with the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need,   
   Bishop Shaw cautioned his people against responding to this clear   
   provocation: "We must be wise and instead ask people to pray for us,   
   to remember us before God."   
      
   Bishop Shaw explained that this provocation has increased the tensions   
   that the Church in Pakistan faces on a daily basis, and that those   
   tensions would only multiply if Church leaders reacted strongly to the   
   initiative. His flock has been "very shocked" by the party's claims,   
   the bishop said. "If we want to make an issue out of it, it will   
   certainly become one," the bishop said, ""What we need right now is   
   prayers and patience."   
      
   The Anglican bishop of Lahore, Reverend John Malik, issued a statement   
   reminding lawmakers that giving into the party's demands would violate   
   the religious freedom guaranteed in the Pakistani constitution. The   
   aim of the ban-the-Bible campaign is to sow discord among different   
   communities, the bishop said.   
      
   Dangerous law   
      
   Pakistan's blasphemy against Islam laws have endangered Christian's   
   freedom to worship and even to simply live without fear of attack   
   several times in the recent past, the most famous example being the   
   case of Asia Bibi, a Christian farm laborer who was accused of   
   blasphemy by some of her co-workers and sentenced to death by hanging.   
   Bibi's case has been appealed but her family has had to go into hiding   
   to save their lives.   
      
   Even those non-Christians who defended Bibi and criticized the   
   blasphemy law have paid the ultimate price: in January the Governor of   
   Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, was assassinated by his body guard for his   
   support of the law's repeal and for Bibi's pardon.   
      
   Benedict XVI has repeatedly called for the law to be repealed,   
   describing it as a pretext for violence against minorities. "The   
   tragic murder of the governor of Punjab shows the urgent need to make   
   progress in this direction," the Pope said in January.   
      
   In response to these papal remarks, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, the same   
   political party that is now calling for a Bible ban said then: "The   
   Pope has given a statement today that has not only offended the 180   
   million Muslims in Pakistan, it has also hurt the sentiments of the   
   entire Islamic world. This is an interference in Pakistan's internal   
   matters. ... We respect the Pope, being head of Christians and their   
   religion, but he should also refrain from interfering in Muslims'   
   religious affairs."   
      
   The blasphemy law sentences those convicted of desecration against the   
   Qur'an to a life sentence or death. In March, the only Christian in   
   the Pakistani federal government, Shahbaz Bhatti, was also   
   assassinated. He served as the minorities minister, and was respected   
   across the political and religious spectrum in the Pakistani   
   government.   
      
   Fear and emotions are running high following the party's press   
   release, Bishop Shaw reported, but he is cautioning his flock to take   
   the prudent path: "Problems like this are happening one after the   
   other. If we give the right response, the matter will die away just   
   like any other debate that suddenly flares up."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)