Pakistan mob kills Christian couple over 'blasphemy'

[webfact]

Pakistan mob kills Christian couple over 'blasphemy'

(BBC) A Christian couple in Pakistan have been beaten to death by an angry crowd after being accused of desecrating a Koran, police say.

Their bodies were burned at the brick kiln where they worked in the town of Kot Radha Kishan in Punjab province.

Police identified the victims only as Shama and Shehzad, AFP reports.

Blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue and critics argue the laws are often misused to settle personal scores and that minorities are unfairly targeted.

"Yesterday an incident of desecration of the holy Koran took place in the area and today the mob first beat the couple and later set their bodies on fire at a brick kiln," local police station official Bin Yameen told the AFP news agency.

A security official told the BBC that local police had tried to save the couple, but they were outnumbered and attacked by the angry crowd.

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29893809


-- BBC 2014-11-05

[Seastallion]

The blasphemy law is self-preserving since nobody can criticise it without they themselves blaspheming, thus it never gets modified.

No law should be self-preserving.

How to tackle it? I don't know.

[ClutchClark]

Its like taking a time machine back to the Stone Age.

[ExPratt]

I van think of a country not a million miles away that has equally archaic "Blasphemy" laws

I have worked in Muslim countries and by far the majority are decent people as goes for most countries. However for some there is something very dark about their attitude towards "Kaifrs" particularly the women

[chaiyapoon]

This is when the 'moderates' become as bad as the fundamentalists and show their true colours by taking part or standing by and doing nothing.

How many true moderates are there? No so many that they are prepared to stand up and be counted.

Terible evil has been done in the name of religion thoughout the centuries shame one religion is still so backwards that its followers still kill and mame in its name.

This will continue until the world has had enough.Wonder how long that will take.

[timewilltell]

The sad thing is that there is one God - you can call God anything you like but it is essentially the same thing. We are all human and if you go back far enough we all come from the same place on Earth, and a Earth shares its beginning from the same place as the rest of our universe. And yet people want to control other people and for some reason want to hurt each other and thus the philosophy of religion is abused to form a dogma and excuse to kill and abuse others. It is rather a sad thing about humans that we have not evolved beyond that yet.

[daoyai]

These are the "moderates", this punishment was carried out, "by the book".

[ammagic]

Just check out www.thereligionofpeace.com. Makes for very interesting reading!

[Pattaya28]

And then there's Buddhism.

One of the true "assets" of Thailand.

If only the whole world was Buddhist. Would be a far more peaceful world.

[sungod]

I van think of a country not a million miles away that has equally archaic "Blasphemy" laws

I have worked in Muslim countries and by far the majority are decent people as goes for most countries. However for some there is something very dark about their attitude towards "Kaifrs" particularly the women

And I'm sure the majority in this particular case were wholly 'decent people' until one person started and the rest of the 'decent people' trampled all over their heads just because they believed in another religion.

[A1Str8]

People still believe this religion stuff?

[robertthebruce]

So So sad, what a terrible death ....

[simondan]

The sad thing is that there is one God - you can call God anything you like but it is essentially the same thing. We are all human and if you go back far enough we all come from the same place on Earth, and a Earth shares its beginning from the same place as the rest of our universe. And yet people want to control other people and for some reason want to hurt each other and thus the philosophy of religion is abused to form a dogma and excuse to kill and abuse others. It is rather a sad thing about humans that we have not evolved beyond that yet.

No. The sad thing is there is NO god. Which makes acts like this so much more pointless.

Bloody savages.

[simondan]

The blasphemy law is self-preserving since nobody can criticise it without they themselves blaspheming, thus it never gets modified.

No law should be self-preserving.

How to tackle it? I don't know.

Yeah.

It reminds me of the classic stoning scene in Life of Brian.

Where the character pronouncing the offence (of committing blasphemy by uttering the word 'Jehovah') couldnt do his job without also committing blasphemy.

Monty Python beautifully captured the circularity and hypocrisy of the whole idiotic idea of blasphemy.

If Islam and Mohammed are so great, why do they get so offended at how someone treats a physical book?

Pathetic is the word for it.

[Clutch]

This form of life doesn't get much lower, it's bottom of the barrel stuff.

[Roadman]

Even the local police spokesman with the "desecration of the holy Koran" gives the impression of acceptance of the action.

A religions radicals where their moderates accept that primitive actions like stoning to death of women for adultery is acceptable should not be tolerated in western countries and should have their radical backsides police busted at every opportunity. To that end the one country that does have it right is the Aussies.

[Seastallion]

And then there's Buddhism.

One of the true "assets" of Thailand.

If only the whole world was Buddhist. Would be a far more peaceful world.

Try telling that to the Burmese.

[simondan]

And then there's Buddhism.

One of the true "assets" of Thailand.

If only the whole world was Buddhist. Would be a far more peaceful world.

Try telling that to the Burmese.

Being of Buddhist origin really toned down the Khmer Rouge too.

And old Hun Sen is another shining Buddhist example of tolerance and fair play...

[tartempion]

People still believe this religion stuff?

Approximatively 5 billion people?

[simondan]

People still believe this religion stuff?

Approximatively 5 billion people?

Its worth noting that the 'prophets' on which the 3 major monotheististic religions are based ie Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed, would probably be horrified at what their ' adherents' have done with their ideas.

Buddha in particular was anti-dogma and anti-religion. I have always liked the famous Zen Buddhist saying 'if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him', which captures the spirit nicely.

A more prosaic quote from John Lennon sums it up (I paraphrase) - 'Jesus was alright, but its his disciples twisting things that ruin it for me'.

A mob like the one that bashed these people to death are about as far from Mohammeds message as you can get.

[realenglish1]

Why do people in the name of religion feel they can Kill someone. If there is a god he would not want murder. One of the commandments state

Should not Kill

They are not religions people they are animals governed by fear

[loongdavid]

...and to think, these people living in what is close enough to call the stone-age, have nuclear weapons! Makes one think about the character and intelligence of the guy with his finger on the button.

[kamahele]

And then there's Buddhism.

One of the true "assets" of Thailand.

If only the whole world was Buddhist. Would be a far more peaceful world.

Hardly. This Buddhist country is horribly corrupt and violent. This includes quite a few of the monks too. I'm for a religion free world.

[monkeycountry]

Pakistan - welcome to the 11th century. Guess which religion prevails there

[arjunadawn]

Its worth noting that the 'prophets' on which the 3 major monotheististic religions are based ie Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed, would probably be horrified at what their ' adherents' have done with their ideas.

Buddha in particular was anti-dogma and anti-religion. I have always liked the famous Zen Buddhist saying 'if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him', which captures the spirit nicely.

A more prosaic quote from John Lennon sums it up (I paraphrase) - 'Jesus was alright, but its his disciples twisting things that ruin it for me'.

A mob like the one that bashed these people to death are about as far from Mohammeds message as you can get.

I regret I do not agree. The highest ideal of any living muslim is to emulate their prophet. Indeed, much of their lives are spent studying how the prophet executed his life, and others. Thus the problem: the "adherents" are actually emulating the life of the prophet. If you can show me where this is incorrect I stand corrected.

Mohammed probably would not have have aimlessly killed other people of the book because they were christians but if charged with desecrating the koran or Islamic blasphemy (a charge which is nearly impossible to fight because of the value of christian testimony in shar'ia) then the prophet would have done the very same thing. Indeed, much of what and how to do Islamic things are based on his life. Thus the misconception many have that Islam is the same as other religions who's "kingdom is not on this earth." Islam is political, judicial, theological, military, and civil. Moreover, its shar'ia applies to everyone on earth. Nothing escapes its reach- it is not like the other two monotheistic religions.

[monkeycountry]

People still believe this religion stuff?

Approximatively 5 billion people?

Its worth noting that the 'prophets' on which the 3 major monotheististic religions are based ie Jesus, Buddha and Mohammed, would probably be horrified at what their ' adherents' have done with their ideas.

Buddha in particular was anti-dogma and anti-religion. I have always liked the famous Zen Buddhist saying 'if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him', which captures the spirit nicely.

A more prosaic quote from John Lennon sums it up (I paraphrase) - 'Jesus was alright, but its his disciples twisting things that ruin it for me'.

A mob like the one that bashed these people to death are about as far from Mohammeds message as you can get.

Are you sure? Besides sleeping with 9 year old girls, Mohammed also conquered cities sparing the life of noone, including infidel women and children - according to the book. Considering that half the mentioned mob probably married underage girls, which is customary in rural Pakistan, it seems to me they follow Mohammeds message perfectly.

Edited November 5, 2014 by monkeycountry

[fvw53]

...except for Burma and the shocking treatment of Rohingya ?

And then there's Buddhism.

One of the true "assets" of Thailand.

If only the whole world was Buddhist. Would be a far more peaceful world.

[simondan]

I'd make a few points in response to arjunadawn and monkeycountry.

1.I make no claim to be a Islam expert, to be clear. I m an athiest. I just believe in truth - Im not defending Islam here. I just dislike oft repeated falsities and twisting of the facts.

2. Sharia law is interpreted by adherents of Islam, it is not set out in the Koran. It is primarily a reflection of the cultural, not religious, values of Middle Eastern societies.

You can be a true Muslim and completely reject sharia law. Yes its true.

TV posts are frequently making this basic mistake.

Mohammed did not set out sharia law, its roots can be traced back long before he was born, in the cultural attitudes of the society of which he was a part. But Islam has moulded it since then for sure.

3. Islam had a venerable tradition of religious tolerance for centuries. Intolerance is not inherent in Islam, it is inherent in some of the humans who interpret it to the masses, and in their cultures. And in ours, apparently.

4. What we know of Mohammed has been passed to us and shaped by Islamic powerbrokers. Much of it (as with the New Testament) is likely suspect. I dont know but I suspect Mohammed would think mob violence a violation of his principles. I could be wrong.

5. At the time of Mohammeds life it was common in Europe for people of all classes to marry girls we today would consider way too young. Royalty, lords, peasants, they all did it. It was culturally acceptable at the time. Its a red herring, monkeycountry. Its meaningless. It says nothing about the man. Also, marriage to very young girls didnt mean sex. Often the girl didnt cohabit with her husband until sexually mature. Hell, even Gandhi married his wife in her very early teens.

6. If we were posting on TV about Christianity back in the Reformation days we'd be saying how bloodthirsty it was and evil. But we know now it was twisted then for political and personal power purposes. It can be a force for good (in the right hands). It isnt inherently evil. Its core message is actually peaceful and hopeful. Same goes for Islam. Its just going through a really bad patch now. And many of its adherents are naive third world peasants with no education, from particularly intolerant cultures, which doesnt help.

Ok, I ve tried. Now let the misrepresentation begin!!

[jamiesilver]

Its a shame the world cannot put its differences aside and unite to eradicate ALL extreme religions from the face of the earth before its too late.
Children and their children will be brainwashed, education is stifled.
There is a cancer growing among us - and it gets bigger and bigger each day...
Unfortunately in the name of OIL we use Extreme religions as an excuse, but in reality nothing is done!

[vogie]

The sad thing is that there is one God - you can call God anything you like but it is essentially the same thing. We are all human and if you go back far enough we all come from the same place on Earth, and a Earth shares its beginning from the same place as the rest of our universe. And yet people want to control other people and for some reason want to hurt each other and thus the philosophy of religion is abused to form a dogma and excuse to kill and abuse others. It is rather a sad thing about humans that we have not evolved beyond that yet.

In reality there is no god and if people believed that there would be a lot less violence. Brain washing is a very dangerous thing!