Muslim clerics call for Bible ban in Pakistan

Bibles to be banned in Pakistan?

Radical clerics at a Lahore mosque have launched a campaign asking Pakistan’s Supreme Court to declare certain biblical passages blasphemous, reports CNS News. The lawyers say they will move for the Bible to be banned formally across the nation.

The campaigners claim particular passages of the Bible are blasphemous, because they depict Muslim-respected characters as flawed or immoral. Among biblical figures respected by Muslims as prophetic figures are characters such as David, who the Bible describes as being an adulterer and murderer.

The initiative is being spearheaded by Abdul Rauf Farooqi, leader of Islamist organization Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Sami-ul-Haq (JUI-S). Farooqi said the political action is in response to the Qur’an burning by Florida pastor Terry Jones in March 2011.

However, Asif Aqeel, director of the Lahore-based Community Development Initiative, said Pakistani society should understand that the Christian community should not be punished for the act of any international individual.

Aqeel said JUI-S needs to remember that not even Mohammed banned the Bible despite his knowledge of the Bible’s different viewpoint.

Naveed Walter, the president of Human Rights Focus Pakistan told CNS News that he was shocked to hear about the Islamists’ plan to attack Christians in this way. “They usually attack individuals, groups, churches and communities of Christians, by falsely accusing them of blasphemy,” he said. “But this time they are planning to ban even the Bible in Pakistan. The extremists have crossed all limitations of extremism.”

The Christian community of Pakistan is being encouraged to respond to this danger without fear, trusting God to protect His Word as He has for thousands of years.

You can read the full article here.

You can help by praying!

• Pray Pakistani Christians will remember that God has preserved His Word for centuries and will continue to do so.
• Pray they will remember that the sacred writings of the Bible “are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).
• Pray that, as the apostle Paul, they would not be ashamed of the gospel, “for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16).