The price of being a Christian in Pakistan

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In Britain, we recently saw the arrest of citizens who pointed out the religious ideology of Islamists rioting and looting in England’s streets, suggesting that it might be better to be an Islamic rioter than to point out that rioters have a religious agenda.

Now the Prime Minister is rushing to pass a law against “online expression” to punish those he feels do not support his response. The vagueness of the wording and the lack of specificity about who decides what religious expression is offensive raises enormous fears that Britain is essentially passing a blasphemy law.

Time and time again we have seen the horrific consequences of blasphemy laws in Pakistan. Imagine doing something as simple as stepping on a few sheets of paper and then being arrested on a charge that could result in a life sentence or death. That is exactly what happened to a Christian rickshaw driver in Pakistan just a few months ago. As he was getting out of his vehicle, he accidentally stepped on some pages that were supposedly part of the Quran. Being a follower of Jesus, the punishment for the crime was particularly harsh. This scenario is all too common in a country where Christians make up just over 1% of the population. And all because a government decided that blasphemy laws should be more important than freedom of speech and religion.

Not surprisingly, Pakistan is among 12 countries designated as a “country of particular concern” by the US State Department for “particularly serious violations of religious freedom,” including systematic enforcement of these harsh blasphemy laws. Despite recent decisions by the Pakistani government to curb violence and protect vulnerable communities, cases of mob violence against Christians are escalating in Jaranwala, Punjab, and elsewhere. Most recently, a mob attempted to kill a Christian mother accused of blasphemy.

The scale of persecution in Pakistan – motivated by blasphemy laws that favor one group over another – should serve as a warning to the rest of the world. Without strong protections for freedom of belief and thought, any of us could face the same fate. In the US and UK, we are already seeing these shadows of censorship and intolerance in the way we raise our children, what we share on social media platforms, and our freedom to assemble and express ourselves.

The point of “freedom of speech” is to protect unpopular speech, not to use it as a useless slogan.

Pakistan’s persecution of Christians reminds us that now is the time to remain vigilant and to make our concerns known to those in power. And Britain would do well to take these examples from Pakistan to heart and understand that free speech can be a great freedom.