Canada says it will fight religious persecution (but doesn't say how)

A year ago Walt told you about Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian minister in the so-called government of Pakistan. Mr. Bhatti had been quite vocal in calling for the repeal of Pakistan's anti-blasphemy laws, under which many Christians had been persecuted.

Not two months later, a fatwa issued against Mr. Bhatti was carried out. Assailants purportedly sent by al-Qaeda and the Taliban sprayed his car with bullets outside his parents' driveway, killing him instantly.

This kind of thing goes on all the time in the Third World, especially in Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Or hellholes like Nigeria and India, where Muslims and Hindus (respectively) fighting with Christians for souls. And of course there's China and Vietnam, where Communist régimes routinely jail, torture and even execute those who adhere to religious institutions not approved by the state.

Now, in a move that Walt finds not a little surprising, Canada's rightish Conservative government says it is preparing to carve out a new role for Canada as a "champion of religious rights abroad". This major shift in Canadian foreign policy is said to have its roots in... wait for it... the assassination of Shabaz Bhatti!

Jason Kenney, Canada's Minister of Immigration and Pandering to Minorities, is quoted in today's Globe and Mail as saying Mr. Bhatti made a major impression on Prime Minister Harpoon when they met shortly before Bhatti's death.

"The Prime Minister was deeply affected by this as was everyone who had the chance to meet him," said the minister. "His visit to Canada shortly before his assassination helped to galvanize within the government the reality of this kind of persecution."

The Conservatives say they were impressed by Bhatti’s refusal to stop fighting religious intolerance despite death threats. Mr. Kenney recalls that "just before I brought Shahbaz to meet the Prime Minister, I told the Prime Minister it would be a miracle if the man he was about to meet would be alive in a few months’ time." How prescient!

Well, whether it's to buy votes from immigrants, appease the "Christian Right", or honour and avenge Mr. Bhatti doesn't matter. The Tories are setting up an Office of Religious Freedom within the quite secular confines of the Department of Foreign Affairs – a controversial pledge that has drawn accusations of vote pandering and blurring lines between church and state.

However commendable may be the notion of compelling the persecutors of Christians to stop creating martyrs, Walt wonders exactly how the Canadian government plans to do this. What will the ORF do, exactly, to force its vision of religious freedom down the throats of, say, the Mullahs of Iraq and Iran?

Will Canada bomb Vietnam with 1000s of tiny Bibles? Will it invade the Middle Eastern bastions of the Islamic empire? Start a crusade, perhaps? The Chinese and the Arabs must be quaking in their boots!

Or is it possible that the Office of Religious Freedom may be merely full of sound and fury, signifying nothing? What do you think?

Martyr in waiting needs your prayers

On November 26th Walt told you about the case of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman convicted of blasphemy under the Sharia law of Pakistan.

She was spared from death only through the protests of Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti, both martyred just a few days ago, and a few other brave souls who dared to stand up for their faith and for religious freedom against Muslim extremists bound on exterminating all Christians.

Now Ms Bibi -- who is still facing a sentence of death -- has given an interview in which she speaks of her "pain and concern" following the death of Mr Bhatti, a Catholic cabinet minister who had sought to amend the blasphemy laws.

In the article on the UCANews website, Ms Bibi says she is still afraid that she could be the next target of violent Islamic groups. Posters have appeared inside the jail showing images of Taseer and Bhatti with a large question mark and the threatening phrase “Who will be next?”

Although the Pakistani government has been under pressure to show clemency in her case, Muslim militants have announced that they will kill her if she is freed. They are reportedly planning a "million Muslim march" in support of the anti-Christian blasphemy laws. Click here for details from Winds of Jihad.

According to her lawyer, Ms Bibi says that part of her hope died with Bhatti, but there are other things that give her hope: visits from her children, and the support of all Christians in Pakistan and around the world.

Please keep Asia Bibi and all Christians persecuted in Muslim countries -- not forgetting "secular" India -- in your prayers.

Another Christian martyr in Pakistan - RIP

In "Paki pol takes a hit for religious freedom", Walt told you about Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian minister in the government of Pakistan. Mr. Bhatti had been quite vocal in calling for the repeal of Pakistan's anti-blasphemy laws, by virtue [wrong word. Ed.] of which many Christians had been persecuted.

I wrote "Well, they didn't get Mr. Bhatti...yet". Turns out it took less than two months for the fatwa issued against Mr. Bhatti to be carried out.

Associated Press reported today that "assailants purportedly sent by al-Qaeda and the Taliban" sprayed his car with bullets outside his parents' driveway, killing him instantly.

It was the second assassination in two months of a high-profile opponent of blasphemy laws that impose the death penalty for insulting Islam. The first was Salman Taseer, on whose assassination Walt was commenting in the first article.

RIP.

Paki pol takes a hit for religious freedom

Just under a month ago, in "Catholics in Pakistan -- follow-up", Walt told you how terrorist organizations associated with the Taliban issued a fatwa against Shabhaz Bhatti, a Catholic who is Pakistan's minister for religious minorities. Mr. Bhatti is -- or was -- leading a commission that would have considered changes to the blasphemy law.

Well, they didn't get Mr. Bhatti ... yet ... but yesterday one of his own "security protectors" assassinated Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province and a senior member of Pakistan's ruling party.

Mr. Taseer had been vocal on a range of subjects, and apparently made the mistake of speaking out against the country's blasphemy law. Fundamentalist Muslims in Pakistan have defended the controversial law and slammed those who oppose it. And now there's one less dissenting voice.