It’s been a while since I posted on my author blog. I’ve still been writing, but with concentrated attention on a book and my regular blog, thecuriousape.com. I’ve also been working on some articles and this week I had one go up at The Daily Beast.
In it, I look at the difficulties Christians face in being a minority religion internationally, as compared to the Western world where it is the majority religion. Blasphemy laws and social intolerance often leads to violence against Christians. It leads to violence with other faiths and for nonbelievers as well, but only so much can be covered in one piece.
The free expression of belief and nonbelief is an important part of establishing human rights. It is something I’ve written about before (see, for example, my piece on blasphemy laws from the Religion News Service last September or my book Consider No Evil) and I’m looking to do it more often. For my recent piece, see my “Christians Are Still Persecuted Around the World. Here’s Where” at The Daily Beast.
A tragic Easter evening at a crowded park in Lahore, Pakistan, is the latest reminder that outside of the Western world, Christianity is increasingly a targeted minority.
The Taliban faction, Jamaat-ur-Ahrar, claimed responsibility for the suicide attack that killed more than 70 and wounded hundreds, mostly children. More than 5,000 militants were rounded up in Pakistan and all but approximately 200 were released during the government’s investigation.
Attacks against Christians are a pattern in Pakistan in recent years. In March of 2015, for example, 14 people were killed and more than 70 injured after suicide bombers targeted two churches in Lahore, and at least 80 were killed in a church bomb attack in 2013 in the city of Peshawar.