Pakistan government barred by high court from pardoning Christian condemned to death

The Pakistan High Court barred the Pakistani government on Monday from pardoning a Christian woman sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy.

Lawyer Allah Bakhsh Leghari successfully argued that this pardon is illegal while the case was pending in the courts.

"Since the matter is in the high court, the government cannot now make any move to pardon Bibi," he told Agence France-Presse.

Asia Bibi was sentenced earlier this year to death by hanging for allegedly blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad. The Christian mother of five was arrested in 2009 following an argument with fellow field workers who had refused to drink water from her container because it was touched by a Christian. They argued, but Bibi thought nothing more of the incident until she was dragged away from her house by a group of Muslims who attempted to force her to convert. She refused and was then accused of blasphemy against Mohammed – a charge she categorically denies.

The official charged with investigating these accusations, Federal Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti said he expects her to be cleared because initial findings prove her innocence.

Religious leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI, and human rights groups have called for her release but conservative Muslims have threatened anarchy if President Asif Ali Zadari pardons the woman.

In the past, Pakistan’s courts have issued death sentences for blasphemy, but no executions have been carried out. All the death sentences were thrown out upon appeal.

Religion Debate: Hitchens edges Blair

Renowned atheist campaigner Christopher Hitchens and former British prime minister Tony Blair debated each other this weekend about whether religion is a force for good in the world, reports the Christian Post. An opinion poll taken after the debate saw most of the 2 600 audience believe that Hitchens won the debate.

Blair, who is a commited Catholic argued that while religion can be destructive, "it can also create a deep well of compassion, and frequently does."

"It is undoubtedly true that people commit horrific acts of evil in the name of religion," he said. "It is also undoubtedly true that people do acts of extraordinary common good inspired by religion."

Blair reminded the audience of all the good works of faith-based charities and the teachings of various religions to illustrate how people are inspired by their faith to do good.

Jesus teaches loves, selflessness and sacrifice; the prophet Mohammad said saving one life is as if you're saving the whole of humanity; Buddhists subjugate selfish desires to care for others; and Sikhs insist on respect for others of another faith, he argued.

Hitchens the author of ‘God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,’ is suffering final stage esophageal cancer, responded that he knew the topic of charity would come up during the debate.

Hitchens then pointed out that millions of people have died in Africa because of the Catholic Church's stance that "AIDS was not as bad as condoms."

And the destruction carried out in the name of religion outweighs the good that people of faith have done, he indicated.

"Do we grant to Hamas and Hezbollah, both of whom will tell you, and incessantly do, without us, where would the poor of Gaza and Lebanon be, ... it's nothing compared to the harm that they do, but it's a great deal of work all the same," Hitchens said.

Blair agreed that not everything the church or religious communities have done around the world is right.

But he added, "[A]t least accept that there are people doing great work, day in, day out, who genuinely are not prejudiced or bigoted, but are working with people who are afflicted by famine and disease and poverty and they are doing it inspired by their faith."

While making his argument, he noted that he was not claiming that one has to be a person of faith in order to do good work. But, nevertheless, there are people who are inspired by their faith to do good and that should be recognized and celebrated.

Other notable arguments made during the debate:

Hitchens: Once you assume a creator and a plan, it makes us objects, in a cruel experiment, whereby we are created sick, and commanded to be well.

Blair: Imagine indeed a world without religious faith, not just no place of worship, no prayer or scripture but no men or women who because of their faith dedicating their lives to others, showing forgiveness where otherwise they wouldn't, believing through their faith that even the weakest and most powerless have rights, and they have a duty to defend them. And yes, I agree, in a world without religion, the religious fanatics may be gone. But I ask you: Would fanaticism be gone?

Pope and China battle for control

It has taken a while, but the long-brewing battle between the Pope and the Chinese government for control of the Chinese Catholic Church has finally simmered over into the public arena. The centre of the latest contention has been the institution of a new Chinese Catholic bishop without the pope's permission.

The Vatican announced that the Chinese government forced bishops to participate in the ordination of Joseph Guo Jincai, while Beijiing charged the Vatican with interfering with religious liberty in China.

Guo was ordained as bishop on Saturday, the Vatican reported, terming the unauthorized act "a grave violation of Catholic discipline." Apparently, the Vatican has warned China "several times" this year not to make Guo a bishop and that going ahead with the ordination "offends the Holy Father, the Church in China and the universal Church, and further complicates the present pastoral difficulties."

However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei immediately hit back saying the Chinese Catholic Church was independent and that any "intervention" constituted "restriction of freedom and non-tolerance."

The last time that China’s Catholic Church appointed bishops without approval from Rome was in 2006. The Vatican responded by excommunicating those two bishops, and this week threatened to excommunicate both Guo and the bishops who presided over his appointment.

The United States Foreign Department, in it’s annual global report published last week, despite limited praise for Beijing, also expressed grave concern over the reality of religious freedom in China last week in its annual global report on the subject.

The State Department listed China as one of eight countries of "particular concern" on religious freedom accusing the country of the persecution of followers of the Dalai Lama in Tibet and Uyghur Muslims in western China.

Over 50% of UK young people have never heard of the King James Bible

The Authorised King James Version of the Bible will be 400 years old next year, and is believed to be the biggest-selling book ever and to have taken the English language around the world, yet 51% of under-35’s in the UK have never heard of it.

The Bible was prepared as a result of the orders of King James I to unite religious factions and correct flaws and political problems in the existing translations of the time.

The King James also provided the English language with hundreds of well-known phrases like ‘let there be light’ and ‘eat, drink and be merry’, but has dropped out of fashion recently because clergy are more likely to use modern translations.

A spokesman for the King James Bible Trust, which commissioned the poll that uncovered this statistic, stated: “There has been a dramatic drop in knowledge in a generation. Yet this is a work which was far more influential than Shakespeare in the development and spread of English.”

He said the book should be taught by schools in English, history and religious education classes.

Labour MP Frank Field said: “It is not possible to comprehend fully Britain’s historical, linguistic or religious development without an understanding of this great translation.”

One third of Catholics have left church in U.S.

The New York Catholic Archbishop Timothy Dolan recently raised concerns over the huge numbers of people leaving the Catholic Church in the United States. Dolan quoted studies that found one-third of Americans born and baptized Catholics have left the fold in recent years. The study also showed that only 50 percent of young Catholics marry in church, while Sunday mass attendance had gone down to 35 percent from 78 percent in the 1960s.

The Catholic Church has been embroiled in controversy after controversy over the last few years, with the child abuse scandals and subsequent cover-up attempts rocking the church to its very core.

Dolan admitted that to turn around this mass exodus, the Catholic Church would need to get its house in order but at the same time he stressed that Roman Catholic Church officials would not be gagged on controversial social issues such as abortion, gay marriages and immigration.

Dolan made the comments in his new capacity as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Interestingly enough, Dolan made history in winning because the position normally goes to the incumbent conference vice president. However, the incumbent, Gerald Kicanas, was himself weighed down by criticisms of how he handled the case of a priest accused of molesting more than a dozen boys.

Pakistani Christian woman on death row pardoned

The President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari on Monday granted an official pardon to the first woman, Asia Bibi, to be sentenced to death under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law.

Bibi has been languishing in prison for the last 18 months but released shortly after the pardon was made official.

“This is the only acceptable outcome to what has been a travesty of justice from the outset,” said Nasir Saeed, coordinator for U.K.-based Center for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS). “Asia Bibi should never have been charged with blasphemy, let alone found guilty and sentenced to death.”

Saeed added, “The ordeal faced by her and her family is unimaginable to most people outside of Pakistan who are largely unaware of the abuse and discrimination faced by the tiny Christian minority there.”

As has already been reported, Bibi was accused of blasphemy against the Muslim Prophet Muhammad by women in her village after she fell into an argument with them. Bibi had been picking fruit with the women and went to fetch water for the group, yet upon returning, the Muslim women refused to drink out of the container because it had been touched by a Christian. They argued and a few days later Bib was dragged from her home, beaten and accused of blaspheming against Islam.

Pakistan’s blasphemy law has become infamous for being used to settle grudges against religious minorities, although this is the first time a woman was sentenced to death under it.

"The blasphemy laws smack in the face of democracy and human rights and only reinforce the notion that Christians and other religious minorities in the country are somehow inferior and less human,” said Saeed of CLAAS in the U.K.

“We are relieved and overjoyed at Asia Bibi’s release but so long as the blasphemy laws remain in place there is no telling when another innocent Christian will face being executed because of something they said.”

World’s biggest Jesus statue unveiled

A small Polish town on Sunday unveiled the world's biggest Jesus statue with a mass attended by approximately 20 000 people.

The statue built in Swiebodzin, western Poland, measures 33 metres in height and sits atop a 17-metre mount, meaning that it surpasses the world renowned Christ sculpture in Rio de Janeiro.

That statue was designed by a local priest, Father Sylwester Zawadzki.

The statue has come in for criticism, however, with some saying it is nothing more than an attempt to attract tourists to the small town. Other Polish people have complained that it is kitsch and a national embarrassment.