What happened to Freedom of Religion?

by Gloria

I had just opened Internet Explorer and was about click on my Facebook shortcut when I saw something shocking that stopped me. The headline stood out on my MSN homepage, bold black letters on a white background: “Christian Woman Sentenced to Death in Pakistan for Blasphemy”. I had thought that this was something far in the past, that our world had moved past this like we had moved past slavery (which I found out later was also not true; slavery still exists). I clicked on the link and read.

Asia Bibi is the mother of five children, and her family is one of the few in her town of Sheikhupura, Pakistan that are Christian. This supposedly “blasphemous” incident occurred when she was asked to fetch water when working in the fields. When she fetched the water, several Muslim women refused to drink it because a Christian had touched it, making it “unclean”. An argument broke out. The other women later claimed that she had insulted the Prophet Mohammed during the argument, and a few days later she was set on by a mob. The police came and took her away to the police station for protection. The local court then sentenced her to hang for blasphemy. Bibi was held in isolation for over a year before being convicted a month ago, though she maintains that she did not insult the Prophet. Christians in Pakistan have been continuously harassed for the past years, much like how Muslims are discriminated against in some parts of the US.

Many human rights groups are protesting against this, and I agree with them. No one should be judged for their beliefs, and blasphemy laws like the ones in Pakistan are just used to persecute minority religions. This is obviously wrong; it’s no different than punishing someone for the color of their skin, or how tall they are. It’s ridiculous. What happened to freedom of speech? And freedom of religion? I am aware that this is in the Constitution only the United States, but this is an obvious, basic, human right. Everybody, everybody living on this earth, should be free to believe what they want to believe, whether it’s Pastafarianism or Scientology, Christianity or Islam, Buddhism or Hinduism.

Works Cited
Rob, and Aoun Sahi. "Christian Woman Sentenced to Death in Pakistan 'for Blasphemy' Telegraph." Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph Online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph - Telegraph. 9 Nov. 2010. Web. 03 Dec. 2010. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/8120142/Christian-woman-sentenced-to-death-in-Pakistan-for-blasphemy.html