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Everyone must stand against persecution

Posted by Sammy Wilson, MP for East Antrim, at 15:53, Wed 12 January 2011:

One news item which struck me over the Christmas holidays was the murder of the prominent Pakistani politician Salmaan Taseer who was killed by one of his body guards. His crime was that he defended a Christian woman Asiya Bibi who has been in jail for eighteen months and faces the death penalty because she dared to discuss her Christian faith with fellow workers. They regarded the very mention of her beliefs as blasphemy, attacked her and when the police arrived she was the one arrested, imprisoned, charged under Pakistani law with defaming the prophet Mohammed and sentenced to death.

Salmaan Taseer a Muslim himself and Governor of Punjab visited her in prison, spoke out against her incarceration and condemned the law which she was charged under. The result was that there were massive public demonstrations calling for him to be killed and as he left a shopping centre one of his own body guards shot him. It is significant that the man was not apprehended by the other guards until he had carried out his murderous deed. Anyone who saw the pictures of the killer as he sat in the back of the truck after his arrest will have seen the hatred written all over his face.

This incident highlights the terrible persecution faced by Christians and those who would dare defend them across the Muslim world. It is not an isolated incident but an everyday occurrence for Christians in Muslim countries. The Christian organisation Open Doors which seeks to serve persecuted Christians across the world by highlighting their plight, giving them practical support, and equipping churches claims that persecution of Christians is increasing massively. Whilst Muslim countries lead the way Christians also face being put in deadly labour camps in Communist North Korea and China, attacks and dispersal by Hindus in India and hundreds of pastors have been murdered in Nigeria. In Indonesia Christians are refused permission to build churches and then prosecuted for worshipping in their own homes.

It has become fashionable for the left wing press, politicians and even the liberal left wing Human Rights lobby to play down the intolerance and violence associated with Islam not just towards those of other faiths, but those within their own faith who like Salmaan Taseer dare to challenge Muslim intolerance towards other faiths and of course the disgraceful treatment of women in Muslim societies. Indeed often we find left wing Human Rights spokesmen and women defending behaviour in Muslim communities for which they demand prosecutions had they occurred anywhere else.

Whilst governments in Muslim countries promote laws and permit actions which leave Christians with no protection or rights consider how we react in the UK to the demands of the extremists within the Muslim community. At official level there appears to be a policy of caving in to every demand regardless of how ludicrous it appears. Here are a few incidents taken from the headlines over the past months. A café owner was ordered to remove the smell of frying bacon which offended Muslim neighbours. The passport photo of a five year old girl was refused by the passport office because her shoulders were bare and it would cause offence if she travelled to a Muslim country. A Church of England school renamed the fairy tale of the three little pigs the three little puppies in case Muslim children might be offended. A Muslim care home owner banned bacon sandwiches, sausages and ham from the menu even though none of his residents were Muslim.

Official pandering to the intolerant demands of the most outspoken voices within the Muslim community in the UK does not help community relations nor is it helpful to those within the Muslim community who oppose such siren voices. What I find even less acceptable is the cowardly response by the Foreign Office and ministers to the blatant and systematic official persecution of Christians in Muslim Countries just because they have oil, are important trading partners or can provide military bases to us.

As Salmann Taseer showed there are brave men and women who are prepared to challenge the laws, courts and religious fanatics in their own countries the least they can expect is that we in the west back them up not abandon them because it is not politically expedient to defend the freedoms we have taken for granted for so long.