In the meantime, passersby became aware that a Christian couple was being held for burning the Quran. Outrage ensued. Word reached the village mosque and spread quickly. An enraged mob consisting of hundreds of militant Muslims converged on the kiln premises, breaking into the office and attacking the couple. Reports vary whether the mob killed the couple and then burned their bodies, or whether they beat the couple unconscious and burned them alive.
According to a BBC report, news of the incident reached Pakistan's prime minister who called the murders "an unacceptable crime." An outcry also ensued with approximately 200 Christians and human rights workers gathering in protest to demand that blasphemy laws be abolished. To date, police have arrested more than 40 suspects who are to appear in court for the tragic murder of this couple. We invite you express your prayers for the traumatized family -- including their four young children -- on our
prayer wall.
VOMC's Greg Musselman was recently interviewed by Mission Network News about this tragedy and to discuss the escalating persecution of Christians in Pakistan. To read this interview,
click here.
While we know that Shehzad and Shama, God's precious saints, are now with Him in His eternal presence, please pray for their four young children who are consequently left orphaned: Solomon, Zeeshan, Sonia and Poonam. May the Lord's peace and comfort surround these precious children, as well as their extended family members who are trying to give them the courage and hope they need to go on. Please pray that the laws in Pakistan would be changed to protect its citizens, and that those responsible for this brutal crime will be quickly brought to justice. Also ask that our Living God will surround His people in Pakistan with a wall of protection against such vigilantes, and that even in the midst of discrimination and hatred, many more men, women and children would turn to Him.
BRITISH COLUMBIA: Christian Law Graduates Banned from Practising Law
Sources: The Globe and Mail, Sun Media
"It should be front page news across Canada," states Sun Media's Ezra Levant in an email news alert. Due to the results of a referendum among the province's lawyers, the British Columbia Law Society voted recently to reverse an earlier decision to accredit Trinity Western University (TWU) law school graduates. As a result, graduates of TWU's law school will not be able to practise law in British Columbia (BC).
The legal profession rejected accreditation for TWU's graduates based on a personal pledge of conduct the university's students are required to sign. The pledge, which includes a promise to abstain from sex outside of traditional marriage, raises a same-sex equality rights issue for the BC Law Society, but pits it against religious freedom in Canada.
Calling it discrimination against Christians, Ezra Levant also claims the society's decision is illegal. In 2001, when the BC College of Teachers excluded TWU students, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of the university. According to an article published in The Globe and Mail, TWU spokesman Guy Saffold states, "The law school is essentially the same issue." The next step would be to sue the BC Law Society based on the Canadian Charter of Rights. "We'd certainly like to find a way to resolve it apart from the legal process," he adds. "We're quite committed as a Christian university to our religious beliefs, and those are not things we could easily compromise."
The BC Law Society's decision is not just a concern to the university, but to all Canadian Christians because it sets a precedent affecting freedom of religion in our country.
While thanking God for the freedoms that we have here in Canada, please pray that the BC Law Society's decision to refuse accreditation to law students at TWU would be overturned. May the members of the law society see clearly that the rights and religious freedom of all Canadians have equal value under the law. Ask that this case will be resolved quickly apart from the legal process, and that the Lord's purposes would prevail in the lives of these law students. May all Canadian Christians value their religious freedom while guarding against the onslaught of any institution or governing body that would attempt to take this freedom away. And may God continue to keep our land glorious and free.
