Pakistan — An International Christian Concern (ICC) analysis of data from the United States Commission on Religious Freedom (USCIRF) found that 20 Christians have remained behind bars in Pakistan for a total of 134 years for the crime of blasphemy.

USCIRF is a U.S. governmental commission that monitors religious freedom rights abroad. Due to the secrecy surrounding many foreign governments, USCIRF maintains that “it is difficult to obtain, confirm, and verify comprehensive information about all victims. It is also impossible to capture all incidents of victimization.”

Between 2002 and 2023, the Christians were detained or imprisoned in separate cases for alleged crimes, including “insulting the Prophet Muhammad,” a crime punishable by death under Pakistani law, “desecrating the Quran,” and “intending to outrage religious feelings.” All 20 remain incarcerated to this day.

Ten of the 20 Christians have received their sentence, with nine being sentenced to death and one individual receiving life imprisonment. The other 10 remain jailed as they wait for verdicts in their cases. Though death sentences don’t result in actual executions in Pakistan, they leave the accused languishing in prison for years or even decades.

One of the Christians, Asif Pervaiz, reportedly sent a text message to his manager at a factory that was deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhammad. Pervaiz was detained in 2013 and sentenced in 2020. The court order in Pervaiz’s case, reportedly viewed by Reuters, stated that the Christian “shall be hanged by his neck till his death” for “misusing” his phone.

In another case, friends Adil Babar and Simon Nadeem, both teenagers at the time of their arrest in 2023, were detained for allegedly calling a dog “Muhammad Ali.” According to USCIRF, they were charged with “insulting the Prophet Muhammad” and are awaiting sentencing.

Christians often feel the brunt of Pakistan’s stifling laws against religious freedom. According to ICC’s new Global Persecution Index, its latest report on Christian persecution around the globe, Pakistan’s restrictions on religious freedoms are expanding and growing more oppressive.

“Despite years of international advocacy to overturn or soften these [blasphemy] laws, Pakistan has only doubled down on the law, with legislation to increase punishments for blasphemy passing handily in the legislature in 2023,” the report stated.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws allow authorities and mobs of Muslims to imprison, threaten, and attack Christians for their faith.

According to one ICC staffer, “The persecution of Christians in Pakistan, whether due to blasphemy or forced conversions, is increasingly common, and it often goes unpunished. Persecution will continue to increase until the persecutors are held accountable under the law.”
Sources:persecution

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The city council of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is pulling prayer from its meetings after a pagan priestess dedicated an invocation to Medusa last fall.

On Wednesday, councilors voted 8-1 to replace the opening prayer with a moment of silence or personal reflection, according to Public Radio Tulsa. It was noted in the report residents who previously signed up to give invocations at meetings will still be allowed to do so.

One councilor, Christian Bengel, abstained from the vote, arguing the spirit of the First Amendment of the Constitution centers on listening to things — including prayers — with which you might not agree.

Fellow Councilor Laura Bellis said she didn’t want the invocation to make any residents feel like their government did not represent them.

She said, “Of course, we have invocations where anyone can sign up of any faith for, but the one time they may be there, it usually is a Christian prayer, and may send the message that their government is not for them or they don’t belong.”

The impetus for the rule change arose in late November of last year, when then-Councilor Crista Patrick’s pagan priestess, Amy McAdams, delivered the opening invocation, during which she invoked Medusa, whom she described as the “monstrous hero of the oppressed and abused,” as well as “the Gorgonea, champions of equality and sacred rage.”

Of her decision to invite McAdams, Patrick said she “wanted to share one little part of myself before I left office,” calling the mythical Greek character Medusa “a fighter of injustice, especially for women.”

McAdams and Patrick were quickly rebuked for the invocation.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and State Superintendent Ryan Walters, both of whom are openly Christian, accused McAdams of Satanism. The governor said Satan was “trying to establish a foothold” via McAdams’ invocation and called the Sooner State “a shining city on the hill,” referencing Matthew 5:14.

As for Bellis, she said she has been considering the rules change for years, but was motivated to push for it after the incident with Patrick and McAdams.

“That really gave the impetus to say, ‘I don’t want anyone to be in one of our government meetings and feel that what’s being shared is alienating to them or unwelcoming or infringing on their sincerely-held beliefs,’” she said.
Sources:faithwire

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Matthew Barnett, pastor and CEO of the Dream Center in Los Angeles, California, is seeing incredible spiritual hunger in the wake of devastating California wildfires that have killed at least 24 people and destroyed more than 12,000 structures.

Barnett, whose organization is feeding and housing those impacted by the inferno, told CBN News he has seen a massive outpouring of resources and volunteer staff — people from all walks of life who are flooding to his campus to help the Christian nonprofit bring relief.

In the process, these people are hearing — and experiencing — the Christian Gospel.

“They’re not just open,” Barnett said of the spiritual fervor unfolding. “They are telling you stuff that you’re not even asking them. I mean, they are volunteering … their lives … and, just by listening and asking them questions, and then you say … ‘God is with you.’”

Volunteers have been flooding to the Dream Center to help hand out food and resources — people from “every type of demographic you could imagine.”

“As people are working 10 hours a day so joyfully … I’m talking to them as they’re serving … we’ll play worship music and … they’ll be like, ‘I like the song. I never heard before. What is it?’” Barnett said. “And then we’re just talking about God while we’re working together with this whole new community.”

He said prayer has also been on full display, as he and volunteers ask individuals and families coming through the food line if they can pray for them.

As it turns out, the spiritual needs are as plentiful as the physical.

“Everybody wants prayer,” Barnett said. “It really is kind of a revival in action where people just want to know that God is there, but I’m really seeing it in a very unusual way through a lot of the volunteers rubbing shoulders all day long and asking questions … like, ‘Why do you do what you guys do?’”

He said some people go through the food line to be prayed for and to experience the positive, spirit-driven Dream Center staff and volunteers.

“It really is a gathering place, it’s a revival place, it’s a place where people are being told about Christ, it’s a place of people being prayed for,” Barnett said. “It really reminds me of an Acts 29 type of church in action.”

Right now, Barnett said the Dream Center is in phase one of its outreach, providing emergency food, housing, and guidance. As time goes on, there will be new, longitudinal needs that the organization will need to meet.

“We’re feeding people,” he said. “They’re coming through the line. We’re learning a lot about what they’ve lost.”

Despite Barnett’s longstanding work in Los Angeles helping the poor and those in need, he said this experience is different — and it’s something he’s not really prepared to tackle.

“I’ve never been encountered by anything like this,” he said.

Barnett said the Dream Center is planning to honor the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers who have shown up to help and plans to share the Gospel with them while expressing their gratitude.

“Serving is the greatest way to engage people that do not know the Lord because everybody can rally around that,” he said. “Everybody can get behind the fact that the Gospel inspires you to do great things and to love people in practical ways, and it’s an unbelievable open door to be able to share why you do it and what inspires you to make that change.”
Sources:faithwire

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