8/15/2023 0 Comments Blasphemous map![]() Police locked the man up in a shop to protect him, but the mob broke through the shop’s door. ![]() Local police officer Iqbal Khan said Maulana Nigar Alam, 40, was killed because “Some words of his prayer were deemed blasphemous by a number of protestors, leading to torture and death at the hands of the angry mob.” But there should be no law in any country against doing so.Police in Pakistan say people attending a political rally in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday beat a man to death because they believed he made blasphemous remarks. It’s wrong to disrespect the beliefs of others. to free speech rules, increasing censorship of controversial books in schools, and new laws governing what may be taught in class - such as the Republican-approved statutes in Florida restricting lessons on gender identity or those that smack of critical race theory.īut troubling as those moves are, we’re not even edging close to Pakistan’s level of intolerance. These days, there are rising challenges in the U.S. Until well into the 20th century, blasphemy was punishable in the United States, though such laws seem in obvious conflict with the 1st Amendment of the Constitution. Google accepted the app, but there was an outcry and the app was eventually removed. ![]() In 2018, just to give a sense of how the ancient concept is being retooled for the modern era, officials in Indonesia introduced a new smartphone app to make it easier for people to report cases of heresy, including blasphemy. In the last 10 years, a number of countries have amended or added blasphemy laws, including Nepal, Morocco, Oman and Kazakhstan, according to the Commission on International Religious Freedom. In modern times it began to fade of its own accord, but not everywhere. Pakistani police arrest at least 50 suspects in the mob lynching of a man who was in custody on suspicion of committing blasphemy against Islam. World & Nation Pakistan arrests 50 men in mob lynching of man accused of blasphemy Jesus was tried and condemned for blasphemy. Flogging and imprisoning people who speak disrespectfully about religion is not a move toward tolerance.īlasphemy has a long history going back to ancient Greece, and it was ferociously punished in the medieval world with mutilations, stoning and banishments. That’s a marketing gimmick designed to reassure the rest of the world that, no, this is not ancient tribalistic repression and intolerance - it’s merely modern anti-bigotry that we all should support.ĭon’t believe it. In recent years, some countries have sought to repackage their blasphemy laws as “hate speech” laws. (Obviously, enforcement and punishment varies widely by country some blasphemy laws aren’t enforced at all.) But Pew found laws against blasphemy in all the regions of the world, including Europe and the Americas. The laws are most common in the Middle East and North Africa, and punishments are toughest there and in Asia. priest Frank Pavone for what it said were ‘blasphemous communications on social media’ and ‘persistent disobedience.’Īccording to a Pew Research Center report released last year, 79 countries had laws on the books in 2019 prohibiting blasphemy - which Pew defined as “speech or actions considered to be contemptuous of God or of people or objects considered sacred” - and 22 had laws against “apostasy,” which is the act of abandoning one’s faith. World & Nation Anti-abortion priest Pavone defrocked for blasphemous posts During the same period, Iran prosecuted 96 cases, Russia 58 and India 51. Although the state has not executed a person convicted under the blasphemy laws, some have spent years in prison, including in isolation.īut blasphemy laws are not just an issue in Pakistan. ![]() She was taken into custody after a mob gathered outside her house demanding she be lynched, police said.ĭuring the period from January 2014 to December 2018, Pakistan led all countries in enforcing laws against so-called blasphemers, bringing a total of 184 cases, according to a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Then a crowd of hundreds of local residents and workers rallied to demand his arrest.Īlso last month, Pakistani police arrested Sana Ullah in Punjab province on charges of blasphemy for claiming she was an Islamic prophet. Tian allegedly made his insulting remarks and gestures while criticizing two workers for taking too long to pray, according to the Associated Press. Religion is often the pretext for laws like the new one in Pakistan, used by ruling powers to further their own agendas. Opinion Op-Ed: How blasphemy laws are used to serve political ends
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