Christianity in Pakistan

Christians are the second largest religious minority community in Pakistan after Hindus. The total number of Christians in Pakistan is approximately 2,800,000 in 2008, or 1.6% of the population. Of these, approximately half are Roman Catholic and half Protestant. Adherents.com: By Location There also is a sizeable 
minority of the New Apostolic Church.
==History==
thumb|left|According to tradition, the Indo-Parthian king Gondophares was proselytized by St Thomas, who continued on to southern India.
In 1877, on St. Thomas' Day at Westminister Abbey, London, Rev Thomas Valpy French was appointed the first Anglican Bishop of Lahore, a large diocese which included, all of the Punjab, then under British colonial rule, and remained so until 1887, during this period he also opened the Divinity College, Lahore in 1870 Churces and Ministers: Home and Foreign EventsNew York Times, January 13, 1878.An Heroic Bishop Chapter VI. His Fourth Pioneer Work: The Lahore Bishopric.Beginnings in India By Eugene Stock, D.C.L., London: Central Board of Missions and SPCK, 1917..
Rev Thomas Patrick Hughes served as a Church Missionary Society missionary at Peshawar (1864–84), and became an oriental scholar, and compiled a 'Dictionary of Islam' (1885)British Library Dictionary of Islam by Rev Thomas Patrick Hughes]..
The exact introduction of Christianity to the South Asia is a debatable topic, with the Syrian Christian community in Kerala, South India being recorded as the earliest. Missionaries accompanied colonizing forces from Portugal, France, and Great Britain, but in north western Ancient India, today's Pakistan, Christianity was mainly brought by the British rulers of India in the later 18th and 19th century. This is evidenced in cities established by the British, such as the port city of Karachi, where the majestic St. Patrick's Cathedral, Pakistan's largest church stands, and the churches in the city of Rawalpindi, where the British established a major military cantonment.
The Europeans won small numbers of converts to Anglicanism, Methodism, the Lutheran Church and Catholicism from the native populations. Islam was very strong in the provinces of Punjab, Balochistan and the North West Frontier Province, but small native Christian communities were formed. The largest numbers came from resident officers of the British Army and the government. European and wealthy native Christians established colleges, churches, hospitals and schools in cities like Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Peshawar. There is a large Catholic Goan community in Karachi which was established when Karachi's infrastructure was developed by the British before World War II, and the Irish (who were subjects of the British Empire and formed a large part of the British Army) were an important factor in the establishment of Pakistan's Catholic community.
When political independence was won by the people of the South Asia in 1947, the organization and activities of the Christian community changed drastically. Christians in Punjab and Sindh had been quite active post 1945 in their support for Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Muslim League. Even before the final phase of the movement, leading Indian Christians like Pothan Joseph had rendered valuable services as journalists and propagandists of the Muslim League. Jinnah had repeatedly promised all citizens of Pakistan complete equality of citizenship, but this promise was not kept by his successors. Pakistan became an Islamic Republic in 1956, making Islam the source of legislation and cornerstone of the national identity, while guaranteeing freedom of religion and equal citizenship to all citizens. In the mass population exchanges that occurred between Pakistan and India upon independence due to conflict between Muslims and followers of Indian religions, most Hindus and nearly all Sikhs fled the country, but the Christians remained.
Christians have made some contributions to the Pakistani national life. Pakistan's first non-Muslim and certainly most respected Chief Justice of Pakistan Supreme Court was Justice A. R. Cornelius. Pakistani Christians also distinguished themselves as great fighter pilots in the Pakistan Air Force. Notable amongst them are Cecil Chaudhry, Peter O'Reilly and Mervyn L Middlecoat. Christians have also contributed as educationists, doctors, lawyers and businessmen. One of Pakistan's greatest batsmen, Yousuf Youhana, was also Christian, but he recently willingly converted to Islam, taking upon the Islamic name Mohammad Yousuf. In Britain, the Bishop emeritus of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, is a Pakistani Christian.
Apart from the Catholics, Christians of other denominations re-organized themselves, in India, into the Churches of North and South India respectively, and as the Church of Pakistan in 1948. Politically, groups like the Pakistan Christian Congress have arisen.
==Community Issues==
thumb|left|250px|Church in Islamabad
From 1947 to the mid-1970s, the governments of Pakistan were largely secular in policy and judgment.However, with the Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization and forced implementation of Islamic Sharia law in Pakistan marginalized the Christian minorities and caused intense persecutions.
In 1971, East Pakistan became independent as Bangladesh, and a large chunk of Pakistan's Hindus and Christians were de-linked from Pakistan. Pakistan became a culturally monolithic, increasingly Islamic state, with smaller religious minorities than ever.
With the governments of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Zia ul-Haq, more stringently Islamic laws transformed Pakistan. While conversion to other faiths than Islam is not prohibited by law, culture and social pressures prohibit such conversions. Extremely controversial were the blasphemy laws, which made it treacherous for non-Muslims to express themselves without coming off as un-Islamic. Zia also introduced the Shariat as a basis for lawmaking, reinforced by Nawaz Sharif in 1991. Coerced conversions to Islam from Christianity are a major source of concern for Pakistani Christians, and the minority face threats, harassment and intimidation tactics from Islamic extremists. Often, converts to Christianity from Islam face the death penalty 
===The 1990s===
In the 1990s, some Christians were arrested on charges of blasphemy, and for protesting that appeared to insult Islam. John Joseph, a bishop in Faisalabad committed suicide to protest the execution of a Christian man on blasphemy charges.
===Discrimination in the Constitution===
Christians, along with other non-Muslim minorities, are discriminated against in the Constitution of Pakistan. Non-Muslims are barred from becoming the PresidentThe Constitution of Pakistan, Part III: Chapter 1: The President or Prime Minister
The Constitution of Pakistan, Notes for Part III, Chapter 3. Furthermore, they are barred from being judges in the Federal Shariat Court, which has the power to strike down any law deemed un-Islamic.The Constitution of Pakistan, Part VII: Chapter 3A: Federal Shariat Court
===Faisalabad Riots===
The English Daily Telegraph published reports on November 14, 2005 claiming that Christian churches and schools (in the city of Faisalabad) have been destroyed "when Muslim preachers urged people to 'take revenge' after a Christian allegedly burnt pages of the Koran." 
The newspaper went on to say: "Hundreds of Christians fled the town as a crowd thousands strong, wielding axes and sticks, set fire to five churches, a dozen houses, three schools, a dispensary, a convent and two parsonages." 
The incidents and the reports were published just as the English cricket team was touring Pakistan and preparing to play a test match in Faisalabad, a major city in the province of Punjab.
=== Conflicts ===
====Blasphemy Laws====
Pakistani law mandates that any "blasphemies" of the Quran are to be met with punishment. On July 28, 1994, Amnesty International urged Pakistan's Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto to change the law because it was being used to terrorize religious minorities. She tried but was unsuccessful. However, she modified the laws to make them more moderate. Her changes were reversed by the Nawaz Sharif administration.
Ayub Masih, a Christian, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death in 1998. He was accused by a neighbor of stating that he supported British writer, Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. Lower appeals courts upheld the conviction. However, before the Pakistan Supreme Court, his lawyer was able to prove that the accuser had used the conviction to force Masih's family off their land and then acquired control of the property. Masih has been released.Religious Intolerance In Pakistan
On September 22, 2006, a Pakistani Christian named Shahid Masih was arrested and jailed for allegedly violating Islamic "blasphemy laws" in the country of Pakistan. He is presently held in confinement and has expressed fear of reprisals by Islamic Fundamentalists.PAKISTAN Young Christian arrested for blasphemy - Asia News
(Note that the name "Masih", which is Arabic for "Messiah", is a common surname in Pakistan among Christians.)
====Christian Muslim conflict====
thumb|right|300px|Cathedral church of Resurrection, Lahore, Pakistan
On October 28, 2001 in Lahore, Pakistan, Islamic militants killed 15 Christians at a church, three weeks after U.S.-led War in Afghanistan to topple the Taliban.
On September 25, 2002, unidentified gunmen shot dead seven people at a Christian charity in Karachi's central business district. They entered the third-floor offices of the Institute for Peace and Justice (IPJ) and shot their victims in the head. All of the victims were Pakistani Christians. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said the victims had their hands tied and their mouths had been covered with tape.
The All Pakistan Minority Alliance said, "We have become increasingly victimised since the launch of the US-led international war on terror. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the
international community to ensure that the government protects us."Gunmen 'execute' Pakistan Christians 
In November 2005, 3,000 militant Islamists attacked Christians in Sangla Hill in Pakistan and destroyed Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and United Presbyterian churches. The attack was over allegations of violation of blasphemy laws by a Pakistani Christian named Yousaf Masih. The attacks were widely condemned by some political parties in Pakistan.Asien, Pakistan: Sangla Hill attack continues to draw condemnation - missio However, Pakistani Christians have expressed disappointment that they have not received justice. Samson Dilawar, a parish priest in Sangla Hill, has said that the police have not committed to trial any of the people who were arrested for committing the assaults, and that the Pakistani government did not inform the Christian community that a judicial inquiry was underway by a local judge. He continued to say that Muslim clerics "make hateful speeches about Christians" and "continue insulting Christians and our faith".PAKISTAN Islamic extremists still unpunished 40 days after the Sangla Hill attack - Asia News
In February 2006, churches and Christian schools were targeted in protests over the publications of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons in Denmark, leaving two elderly women injured and many homes and properties destroyed. Some of the mobs were stopped by police.International Christian Response: Cartoon Protesters in Pakistan Target Christians
On June 5, 2006, a Pakistani Christian stonemason named Nasir Ashraf was working near Lahore when he drank water from a public facility using a glass chained to the facility. He was assaulted by Muslims for "Polluting the glass". A mob developed, who beat Ashraf, calling him a "Christian dog".Bystanders encouraged the beating, because it would be a "good" deed that would help them in heaven. Ashraf was eventually hospitalizedChristian beaten for drinking water,Worldnet DailyChristian attacked for polluting,Pakistan Christian Post.
On August 2006, a church and Christian homes were attacked in a village outside of Lahore, Pakistan in a land dispute. Three Christians were seriously injured and one missing after some 35 Muslims burned buildings, desecrated Bibles and attacked Christians.N.J. Civil Unions Hung Up on 'Marriage' | Christianpost.com
Based, in part, on such incidents, Pakistan was recommended by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in May 2006 to be designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) by the Department of State.
In January 2008 a Christian medical superintendent in Bannu was kidnapped and held for 25 days, according to the Barnabas Fund.
A tense calm returned on July 15 to the outskirts of Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, after several Christians, including a pastor, were injured when Muslim militants stormed a Protestant church during a prayer service, officials said.
The 2009 Gojra riots is the most recent series of violent pogroms against Christian minorities by Muslims.Pakistan: Who's Attacking the Christians?
==References==
==See also==
*Churches in Pakistan
*2009 Gojra riots
*Demographics of Pakistan
*Christianity in India
*Christianity in Bangladesh
==External links==
* Pakistan Christians demand help
Category:Christianity in Pakistan
Category:Christianity in Asia
de:Christentum in Pakistan
fr:Christianisme au Pakistan
ru:Христианство в Пакистане