March 3, 2011

NEW YORK – U.S. Muslims were among the leading voices of condemnation Wednesday following the assassination in Pakistan of Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian member of Pakistan's federal cabinet.

Bhatti was shot dead in his car March 2 by assailants who left leaflets at the scene identifying themselves as "Taliban al Qaeda Punjab."

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) said it was "outraged" by the brutal murder of Bhatti, who was Minister of Minorities in the Pakistan government.

The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, also expressed outrage at the attack. "We stand in solidarity with fellow Christians who live as threatened minorities in their homelands," Kinnamon said. "Shahbaz Bhatti was a courageous advocate of Christians and other minorities in Pakistan. We express our deepest condolences to his family, and we pray God will give courage to others to defend oppressed peoples in that country."

Kinnamon will be among those addressing a "Faith Under Fire" rally in New York's Times Square Sunday to oppose the hearings of Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) to investigate radical Islam. Critics say the hearings will "demonize" all Muslims.

In a message to Dr. Sayyid Syeed, ISNA's director of Interfaith and Community Alliances, Kinnamon thanked ISNA for its "powerful and compassionate statement."

"We will continue to do all we can to stand in solidarity with the Muslim community in the U.S., even as you express such wonderful solidarity with the Christian community in Pakistan," Kinnamon told Syeed.

Bhatti had quietly challenged Pakistan's blasphemy law, which he said was "being misused to victimize the innocent people of Pakistan." Bhatti knew his attacks on "the forces of intolerance" made him a target of intolerant extremists. Four months ago he recorded a farewell statement to be broadcast in the event of his death.

Syeed met with Bhatti months ago to make clear ISNA's position that "it is the responsibility of Muslims to ensure the safety of religious minorities in Muslim majority countries."

In a recent interview with the Voice of America, Bhatti said, "It is time that the people of different faiths and the Pakistani nation stand united against the forces of intolerance, against the forces of violence."

Sayyid said Bhatti's statement, although coming from a Christian, "is more in line with Quranic teachings than those Muslims who misuse blasphemy laws to justify murder and is more the reason to reject these laws. These laws fly in the face of Quranic teachings."

ISNA President Imam Mohamed Magid said, "The Quran teaches Muslims to respond to those who blaspheme the Prophet and other sacred symbols of Islam with that which is ‘better.' ‘Good and evil cannot be equal; repel evil with something which is better and verily he between whom and thyself was enmity may then become as though he had always been a close, true friend, (Quran 41:34).' Surely murder can not be that which is better."

ISNA called on the Pakistani government to repudiate any law or action that infringes upon the ability of any person to freely practice their religion in Pakistan.

ISNA also urged Muslim scholars in Pakistan as well as ordinary Muslims to speak out against these unjustified killings and the misuse of blasphemy laws that are being done in the name of Islam.

"We ask that the government takes every measure necessary to secure the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan, as well as their safety and those of their places of worship," said Imam Magid. "We also ask Islamic scholars to stand up for the rights of those minorities in their midst as the Quran teaches. To do nothing will only play into the hands of the extremists everywhere in the world."

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for shared ecumenical witness among Christians in the United States. The NCC's 37 member communions – from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches – include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA