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Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy in PakistanCNN's Reza Sayah and journalist Nasir Habib filed this report: A Christian woman has been sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan, two police officials told CNN Thursday. Asia Bibi was convicted of insulting Islam's prophet, Mohammed, while working in a field with several Muslim women in a village southwest of Lahore. She told them the Quran was "fake" and made comments about one of Mohammed's wives and about his health in his final days, the police complaint against her said. She said that "the Quran is fake and your prophet remained in bed for one month before his death because he had worms in his ears and mouth. He married Khadija just for money and after looting her kicked her out of the house," local police official Muhammad Ilyas told CNN. New Christian sponsor takes over event challenging homosexualityCNN's Dan Gilgoff filed this report: A major Christian group will take over an annual event that challenges homosexuality, weeks after the event's main Christian sponsor pulled support for the student-focused program, saying it had become too divisive and confrontational. Focus on the Family, an influential evangelical organization, will begin sponsoring the event known as the Day of Truth but will change the name of the happening to the Day of Dialogue, the group is set to announce Thursday. The Day of Truth has been pushed by conservative Christian groups as a way for school students to counter the Day of Silence, an annual April event promoted by gay rights advocates to highlight threats against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. Iraqi Christians welcome in north, Kurdish leader saysIraqi Christians under siege by Islamic militants are welcome in the country's north, a Kurdish leader said Thursday, after a string of attacks that have killed dozens of the faith. "I want to let them know that the Kurdistan Region is open to them. If they want to come, we will protect them and provide them with all services," said Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan regional government. "We are extremely sorry for the crimes they have been subjected to and we condemn these criminal acts, they are innocent people and a precious part of this nation." In the past, the regional government has opened its doors to other persecuted minorities. Many Christian families that CNN spoke to Wednesday said they feared for their own safety and wanted to leave Iraq, but didn't have the means to do so. Some Iraqi church leaders and politicians such as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have been discouraging Iraqi Christians, one of the oldest Christian civilizations in the world, from leaving. |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team. ![]() ![]() |
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