LITTLE ROCK — Gunmen in Pakistan kill 2 Christians
ISLAMABAD - Gunmen killed two Pakistani Christian brothers accused of blasphemy against Islam as they left court, a government minister and police said.
The men were chained together when the attack took place Monday in the eastern city of Faisalabad as they were being taken back into custody after their court appearance.
They were arrested a month ago after leaflets allegedly bearing their names and featuring derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad were found in the town, said Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for minority affairs. He said mosques in Faisalabad had called for the men to be attacked.
Bhatti said he suspected the men were falsely accused of blasphemy by people with a grudge against them. Their families had maintained their innocence, he said.
The killers escaped.
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have been criticized by religious minorities and human rights activists. In its latest report on religious freedom in Pakistan, the U.S. State Department said the laws are often abused to settle local disputes and discriminate against minorities. Muslims comprise about 97 percent of Pakistan’s 180 million people.
- The Associated PressKentucky limits visits to inmates
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The state Department of Corrections has upset some clergy by renewing enforcement of a previously ignored policy that limits ministers’ access to inmates.
Pastors previously had been alerting the prison ahead of plans to visit multiple inmates. Now, clergy must sign up for one of three slots on an inmate’s visit list and meet with them one on one.
The policy change was made after prison officials objected to a pastor meeting with more than one death row inmate during a visit to the Kentucky State Penitentiary in rural Eddyville.
Kentucky Corrections Department spokesman Lisa Lamb said that Phil Parker, the new warden in Eddyville, is just invoking rules that have been on the books.
“Things were occurring that were totally outside our institutional policy,” Lamb said.
To help the transition, prison officials allowed inmates to change their visiting lists instead of enforcing the usual six-month wait for such changes, Lamb said.
Dick Murphy, director of social concerns with Catholic Charities of Owensboro, said the inmatepastor relationship helps the inmates spiritually as they come to grips with their crimes and the possibility of dying and keeps them from becoming isolated from the outside world.
- The Associated PressCouple can’t start church in home
KENNEWICK, Wash. - A Kennewick couple who have been blocked from starting a church in their home are taking the city to court, filing a lawsuit claiming religious discrimination.
City officials say the church proposal from Joshua and Julie Morgan was denied because it was part of a plan to continue holding outdoor weddings and receptions on the property, which the Morgans have been told to stop. Neighbors have complained about traffic, noise and litter.
Joshua Morgan said he has performed hundreds of weddings and felt called to start a church. He has a license for home-based portrait photography and wedding planning, but not weddings and receptions.
Religion, Pages 12 on 07/24/2010