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November 11th, 2010
10:58 AM ET
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.
The initial complaint against Bibi was filed on June 14, 2009, by a Muslim cleric, Ilyas said. Police say the Muslim women reported the incident to Qari Muhammad Salim, who later filed the police report. The cleric claims Bibi confessed to him and apologized. Muhammad Iqbal, a senior police official in the district of Nankana Sahib, said she also was fined the equivalent of $1,100. Police say Bibi was charged with breaking section 295-C of Pakistan's penal code, which says: "Whoever ... defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine." Former Pakistani Supreme Court Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid told CNN he doesn't recall a death sentence ever being carried against someone convicted of breaking Pakistan's anti-blasphemy laws. Death sentences in these cases are almost always overturned by higher courts on appeal, he said. Death sentences are carried out by hanging in Pakistan. CNN has not yet been able to contact Bibi or her family directly. It is not clear when the sentence was handed down.
Pakistan is more than 96 percent Muslim, according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. |
  About this blog
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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Come on America. The world is correct. We are stupid Americans. Can't everyone see that there is only going to be one solution to the problems with the Arab world. Unless we carpet bomb these guys into oblivion your kids and grandkids are going to have to either be moslems or get their throats cut. Send the to allah now. We all die eventually, so let's help these guys get to hell sooner than later.
@Jeff,
You can't prove or disprove the existence of many things that are claimed to exist. Not being able to disprove a claim, doesn't render you religious.
Atheists, of course, don't need to disprove a god exists. Atheists – because of the theists inability to substantiate their claims with evidence – just don't accept the claims made by theists. Not accepting those claims is what renders a person an atheist.
"What is lacking in the world is RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE and MUTUAL RESPECT for things which others hold sacred."
To achieve religious tolerance and mutual respect, those whom practise religion need to discard their ossified Bibles and Qurans. After all, those books aren't exactly respectful and tolerant of those with different or no beliefs in a god. You can't, of course, expect those on the receiving end of that intolerant and disrespectful religious propaganda to sit back and say nowt. And again, condemning religious propaganda(or any propaganda devised to portray another group in a negative manner) – and those who spout it – doesn't render you religious.
"You can't prove or disprove the existence of many things that are claimed to exist. Not being able to disprove a claim, doesn't render you religious."
I disagree entirely and it only depends on how you fashion the question. If you would like the preposition restated, you cannot prove nor disprove the non-existence of god. Or, if you would rather, we both know that this earth exists. We both exist. But neither you nor I can definitively state how exactly this planet, you, me, or the whole universe came to exist. You render yourself religious at the point you put your belief (or your nonbelief) in a viewpoint of reality that cannot be determined infalliable.
You do not become religious by failing to disprove a claim. However, life does not end there does it? Lets be honest with ourselves and live in reality shall we? You are human and intelligent. YOU DO BECOME RELIGIOUS AT THE POINT YOU CONSCIOUSLY CHOOSE TO ACT AND LIVE YOUR LIFE IN SUCH A WAY WHERE YOU DO NOT HAVE ALL OF THE ANSWERS.
No human has all of the answers. Even as a collective body and members of the human family since the dawn of time, we do not have all of the answers. Some people claim that god has all of the answers and choose to live their life according to a belief in a divine creator(s). Others choose to accept that they do not have all of the answers and choose to live their lives based on according to their own ADMITTED limited and imperfect knowldege.
The point is this,niether viewpoint is better and at some point both people are living their lives according to their own system of belief of "what is best." To put it another way, both are faithful to their own personal system of belief and act according to that faith. Both are religious. To claim that you do not live your life by any faith is to claim that you know all of the answers, and no one does, or to claim that you just don't care what the answers are, and no one does. At some point, you are only living your life according to your own personal belief. You have no other choice becase you are human, intelligent and rational.
"Atheists, of course, don't need to disprove a god exists. Atheists – because of the theists inability to substantiate their claims with evidence – just don't accept the claims made by theists. Not accepting those claims is what renders a person an atheist."
This line of logic is wholly incorrect based on the glaringly unrealistic limitation to the premise. You are only looking at one side of the coin. To a believer, there is plenty of evidence that supports the existence of a supreme being. Just because an atheist choses not to accept a believer's evidence as evidence does not mean that an atheists view of the world is more logical and, in the end, does not mean that an atheist is not living by faith.
Let's refashion the question, shall we? This earth exists. This universe exists. I exist. How do I exist? Why do I exist? In what manner do I exist? Atheists may not have to prove or disprove the esitence of god, but you have placed a rediculously unrealistic limitation on the premise. The question as to the existence of god does not operate in a vacuum. You yourself exist and you know this. I exist, therefore, how and why? Both belivers and atheists must answer this question. Neither belivers nor atheists can definitively answer this basic question. Both belivers and atheists must answer this question for themselves since humans are rational and intelligent beings that are faced with challenges and choices on a continuous basis. We don't base our lives on thoughtless instinct, but on conscious and rational thought. How do I exist and, therefore, choose to live my life? How do you exist and therefore chose to live your life? I choose to live according to a belief that I exist according to a divine creator. You choose to exist according to a belief that there is no divine creator, or that if there is a divine creator, it doesn't matter. Either way you are living your life according to your own system of belief - your own faith. You have no choice but to do so becuase you are intelligent - i.e., becuase you are human.
"What is lacking in the world is RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE and MUTUAL RESPECT for things which others hold sacred."
"To achieve religious tolerance and mutual respect, those whom practise religion need to discard their ossified Bibles and Qurans. After all, those books aren't exactly respectful and tolerant of those with different or no beliefs in a god. You can't, of course, expect those on the receiving end of that intolerant and disrespectful religious propaganda to sit back and say nowt. And again, condemning religious propaganda(or any propaganda devised to portray another group in a negative manner) – and those who spout it – doesn't render you religious."
With all do respect, you are completely wrong on this. Did I say that tolerance is necessary from those who are religious against those who are not? Tolerance needs to come from all people of all faiths. Just because I believe in a god does not make me any less human or any less intelligent than an atheist. The opposite of this is also true. People who choose not to base the belief of their existence in a creator are no less intelligent than theists.
As far as the religous texts are concerned, it all depends on how you interpret their meaning. I cannot agree, again, with your logic. There are many people in this world who are wholly tolerant of other people who live fully by the Quran, the Torah, the Bible, etc. based on their interpretation thereof. In truth, many tolerant, good religious people will claim that it is because of those texts that they are so tolerant and charitable towards other members of the human race. You cannot claim, for example, that the teachings of Christ were wholly intolerant of non-christians. Sure, some Chirstians people who are full of hate will interpret certain passages of the Bilble to justify their hate. Likewise, if I were a hateful person, I could pick up the lastest bestselling book on secular humanism at Barnes and Nobel and justify all sorts of atrocities and intolerance toward my fellowmen - esepcially those idiot who believe in fairy tales.
Moreover, once again, condemning religious propaganda does not make you religious. But, again, you are not being entirely honest here becuase that is NEVER where it ends. As an example, Bill Maher's "Religulous" movie went a lot further than just condemning religious propoganda. It openly, arrogantly, and disrespectfully attacked the belief systems of billions of people. Why? Well that is a no brainer; Bill doesn't have all of the answers either. He might think that some things people believe in are pretty weird but that, in and of itself, is Bill's own personal belief. He cannot prove nor disprove the truth because he is in the same boat we all are in. In the end, many of the so called "condemnations of religious propaganda" are exactly what they claim to denouce; they are themselves religous propaganda. Bill does not have all of the answers, so what is the point of openly mocking someone who is just in the same boat as you...at the end of the day, we are all only just trying to find the answers to make sense of our lives and help us make good choices. At the end of the day, we are all only acting in accordance with what we believe is the truth and according to our own "faith."
@Jeff
This may sound familiar: A LACK OF BELIEF IS NOT A BELIEF.
But perhaps you are lumping agnostics in with atheists, as you seem to be doing.
"Faith" is a belief in something that does not exist, not needing any proof of any sort, and does not require anything but a willingness to suspend rational disbelief – a willingness to subvert one's perceptions to delusion as opposed to reality.
It is a socially accepted mental construct that uses our human weaknesses against us.
A lack of belief is not a belief. A lack of proof is not proof. A lack of religious delusions is not a religious delusion.
Religions tend to be delusional belief systems that humans are particularly susceptible to, and that our brains have evolved to actually use delusions to a great degree as a survival mechanism / system.
You keep talking like you do not understand the difference between delusion and reality.
And when you talk about religion and faith, it is clear to me that you are not keeping to the same definitions for each – you are using a definition of "faith" that is incorrect as regards "religious faith vs non-believer". You also treat the word "religious" in the same incorrect manner.
Religious faith is a belief in something for which there is no proof. That there is a lack of proof in no way makes an agnostic or atheist a "religious person" or a "person of faith" in anything like the same way!
A lack of anything religious to believe in does NOT somehow make a person "religious", nor does it give them "faith" – they have nothing religious worth believing in, and so they DO NOT BELIEVE IN ANYTHING RELIGIOUS.
This takes no "faith", requires no "religion". Nothing exists to use in any deliberations. This is a lack of good data, not somebody "worshiping themselves", as so many religious people like to say.
It is a lack of anything worth using.
Just an adherence to the harsh truth, the painful reality, the bare facts, our limited perceptions...and using our best efforts to consider all possibilities, calculate probabilities, formulate workable hypothesis and theories, and to use our brains as best we can.
Religion loses every time.
And a lack of faith is not a faith or religion. It is a lack of any issue at all in that area. A LACK, k?
Please look up the definitions of "religion" and "faith" and please....do not mix your definitions. You cannot jump from subset # 8 to #2 and then over to #5 all within the same sentence or paragraph or post.
Your vocabulary is found wanting. Perhaps if you were to elaborate instead of using one word for three VERY different definitions of the same word within the same argument.
i.e. "washing your hands religiously" does not mean that you are an adherent to a religion, nor does it require faith to wash your hands – unless you mean that you have "faith" that the water will flow out of the faucet and that the soap will be soapy....etc.
I hope you get where I'm coming from. Absolute certainty is a delusion.
A workable framework of realistic expectations should not be confused with "absolute certainty"...nor should it be confused with "faith" or "religion" as they are commonly defined – as opposed to your misuse of those words. Get me now?
Delusion is not reality. When delusion becomes your "reality" maybe you are "in God's Holy Grace", but it sure doesn't make the universe do anything different as far as I've been able to determine. Delusions can be useful, but they nevertheless REMAIN delusions. To acknowledge anything else would be a LIE as far as I'm concerned.
I'm tossing this half-formed argument back at you without refining it any further. You make some good points in your post, and I agree with some of the things you said, but we need to be talking the same language and using the same definitions for the words we use, otherwise this is useless jabbering in a blog. I would rather do something more useful. Like sleeping.
Mother Goose is more powerful then the Cat in the Hat!
Infidel! We execute you!
Do you find it less ridiculous if I say Zeus is not real and is a fake?
Hopefully all religion goes this way one day. It is all a lie.
Why don't we just execute all the poor, delusional individuals who exhibit symptoms of "The God Disease". If you're crazy enough to believe ANY gods exist you are just plain batsh!t wacko and a burden on the sane members of society!
The condemned women is a mother of 5 small children. While Muslims (notably Pakistanis) demand UNDUE rights for their religion in America, NONE of them will ever register a WHIMPER of protest against the acts of their fellow Muslims against this unfortunate mother.
In contrast in India a Muslim man who attacked the Indian parliament and killed scores of people is not being put to death inspite of the Indian Supreme Court sentencing him to death, all b'coz he has an young son, and NOT to offend Indian Muslims.... so much for the patriotism of India's Muslims!!!
Murali-Atlanta-USA
I've never been much into mythology
As a Buddhist I have to say I am impressed with the debate here. There seem to be so many that are against any form of religion what so ever. That is your choice. I do believe it is important to debate and even question but when you direct criticism toward a belief system or a philosophy without prior involvement or experience are not being as narrow minded as those that punish non believers? Spirituality can be many things including an experience. This story paints one picture about one person. While the media has presented other stories of this nature they seem to be providing a focal point simply because this is a hot topic right now. As wonderful as our country is there are still people who are persecuted every day for what the believe in or don't believe in and that is not limited to religion. That does not make this story any less painful however ignorance violence anger and hate can and does exist everywhere not just in Pakistan.
The great thing about religion, there are so many to choose from.
"I have never been afraid of a man who questions their faith from time to time, The ones who never do scare the hell out of me."
You can quote me on that one!!!
I despise the three Abrahamic desert cults. They're a cancer upon the human species.
I think its so funny that the unbelievers of Jesus Christ always have to seal his joy and his hilidays away from him because they are so scared of the second coming of CHRIST! They can't even let him have Easter without the stupid bunny craz or Christmas! they have to steal that from him too! Easter and Christmas is for Christ! Not for bunnies or Gods of the underworld! I hope im alive when he comes back just so i can see the unbelievers suffer! lol
Yea, like in about 5 more billion years, you oblivious sun worshiper.
bella2441,
"I hope im alive when he comes back just so i can see the unbelievers suffer! lol"
It's all about love, huh? You are desp.icable. You know where you can shove your snide lol, don't you?
Also, Christians simply pasted their 'holidays' onto days which were already celebrated by pagans, so you are the usurpers there.
I waded through all that to say this. You come to MY house and tell me that I'm wrong about the way I live and that I'M A loser and a pervert, and diseased. And tell me because I am a product of what I was taught and belive that I'm going to die and go to hell? I'm going to do something nasty to you too! It all about respect. Even if you don't approve of the way I do things, shut up and leave. Or make sure you're far enough away as to where I can't reach you. That was foolish of her to make those kind of statements when you're in a country that is 99.99% Muslim and you are less than 1% of the total population. Looks like a butt whooping to me!
Patrick - "Christianity, the religion of lots of war. Jesus is all about power. Didn't you know that? Bah."
No, religious intolerance in any form is the religion of lots of war. The prideful and the arrogant who truly believe that their view of the world is the view that everyone must have are all about power to overshadow their own fears and insecruities.
People who openly mock other people's sacred beliefs are the most scared and insecure people you could ever hope to find. These people love pointing their fingers at what other people are doing when they fail to realize that what they are doing is actually the root and the cause of the problem. It is not enlightening to engrandize yourself and your beliefs over others at the expense of the beliefs of other people.
Thus, intolerant and arrogant people who are childish and have never learned respect for other people or their beliefs are the root of the problem. Joseph Stalin was an atheist who believed what he was doing was for the greater good of humanity. It could be said that he was one of the first secular humanists, and he was the worst mass murderer of all time. Does this mean that secular humanism or atheism is evil? Does it mean Christianity, Judaism, Islam or organized religion is better? It means niether.
"Somewhere along the line we have lost respect for other people. For some reason it has become noble or popular to openly mock the sacred beliefs of other members of our human family. What these people do not realize is that they are no better than the crusaders of ancient Europe. Mock Jesus all you want, you have a right to do so. But you can neither prove nor disprove that he was god. Likewise, I cannot prove nor disprove that secular science is the compass for morality and virtue. Some people may think it is silly to wear Burkas or magic underwear. Others will think it foolish to place your faith in the limited knowledge of mortal apes. The sad truth is that the only foolish behavior is to think that your view of the universie and the mysteries of life is somehow better than someone else's to the point that you feel the need to openly mock, or worse, persecute that person."
I disagree with this statement entirely and I am a Christian. Let them worship how where or what they may. This is a fundamental right. No one can truely be free without the freedom of religion.
You're an idiot.
I have solution for this whole blasphemy thing. Let's get rid of all religions. Problem solved
America has been a refuge of people displaced because of their religious beliefs, so it's no wonder that America is still a little slow catching up to Europe, where religion is for the most part considered a leftover from the ages of yesterday and is not taken seriously anymore. I supposed that the same process is happening here now, and in a few decades religion of any kind will be a serious joke. America Catch up (and I'm not talking about tomato sauce)!
Patrick - "Christianity, the religion of lots of war. Jesus is all about power. Didn't you know that? Bah."
No, religious intolerance in any form is the religion of lots of war. The prideful and the arrogant who truly believe that their view of the world is the view that everyone must have are all about power to overshadow their own fears and insecruities.
People who openly mock other people's sacred beliefs are the most scared and insecure people you could ever hope to find. These people love pointing their fingers at what other people are doing when they fail to realize that what they are doing is actually the root and the cause of the problem. It is not enlightening to engrandize yourself and your beliefs over others at the expense of the beliefs of other people.
Thus, intolerant and arrogant people who are childish and have never learned respect for other people or their beliefs are the root of the problem. Joseph Stalin was an atheist who believed what he was doing was for the greater good of humanity. It could be said that he was one of the first secular humanists, and he was the worst mass murderer of all time. Does this mean that secular humanism or atheism is evil? Does it mean Christianity, Judaism, Islam or organized religion is better? It means niether.
Somewhere along the line we have lost respect for other people. For some reason it has become noble or popular to openly mock the sacred beliefs of other members of our human family. What these people do not realize is that they are no better than the crusaders of ancient Europe. Mock Jesus all you want, you have a right to do so. But you can neither prove nor disprove that he was god. Likewise, I cannot prove nor disprove that secular science is the compass for morality and virtue. Some people may think it is silly to wear Burkas or magic underwear. Others will think it foolish to place your faith in the limited knowledge of mortal apes. The sad truth is that the only foolish behavior is to think that your view of the universie and the mysteries of life is somehow better than someone else's to the point that you feel the need to openly mock, or worse, persecute that person.
@Jeff
I would say that the "root and cause of the problem(s)" are much more intrinsic to human beings as a species than your assertions of "pointing fingers" being the root and cause of the problem.
Perhaps you are addressing a particular problem that you don't seem to actually spell out in your post. If so, then perhaps you may be right as regards that particular "problem".
I will maintain that delusional thinking, which happens to include that "finger pointing" you hate, is closer to being the "root and cause" of the problems we face in this world.
Not everyone is pointing fingers. Some of us can discuss things when we are not blinded by anger and frustration at the madness we see in the actions of others beyond our perceived social grouping.
What, exactly, is the "problem" you are talking about? Rudeness in these blogs? Freedom of speech? Disrespect of others?
Could you elaborate? And would you ever take a psychological stance in how you perceive both "problems" and solutions?
Or would you take a legalistic stance, finding your arguments among the words we use and misunderstand so easily?
Muslims and Pakistanis in particular need to get over this Mohammad fixation. They need to wake up to reality. Sentencing woman to death is simply a sign of backwardness and mental retardation. It smacks of barbarianism.
I am not surprised that they are going to put the woman to death for insulting the prophet of the religion of piece.
The prophet himself had a 50 year old poet woman killed because she did not agree with him. How can his followers be better than him. The whole religion is messed up.
Western libtards will never believe that the deat sentences on the Danish Cartoonists is an authentic Islamic teaching.
Let them dream.
Funny thing is..Christians would love to turn the US into a religious state similiar to Pakistan and punish people that did not believe in what they believe. If someone stood up and said God is a fairy tale, Christians would string that person up. Religions have been doing this for thousands of years. So anyone who says Christianity is a more understanding religon than say Islam is lying through their forked tongue.
"All I said was, "That piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah."
He said Jehovah, stone him!!!!!
Why US have to be a "friend" of that beasts?
i agree with the woman 100% .Her story is true..........