Barnabas weekly newsletter 07 January 2011

An influential Pakistani governor who campaigned for the release of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy has been shot dead by one of his own bodyguards.

Salman Taseer, governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province and a senior member of the ruling party, was gunned down in the capital Islamabad.

An Afghan convert to Christianity is facing the death penalty after being given a week by a judge to return to Islam or be executed for apostasy.

Shoaib Assadullah (25) was due to appear in court in the northern city of Mazar this week, but a hearing scheduled first for Monday and then Tuesday has been postponed because the attorney general is looking into the case.

Barnabas Fund’s pre-Christmas warning that the festive season would probably see an increase in anti-Christian violence has sadly been proven true by a series of deadly attacks in Nigeria, Iraq and Egypt.

“It is sad that when Christians were supposed to be celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, some people, out of wickedness, would come to perpetrate such evil,” said Rev Yuguda Ndirmva, Borno State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, after a series of attacks on Christmas Eve, 24 December.

Barnabas Fund is helping Christians who are in economic difficulties because of anti-Christian discrimination to start up or develop their own small businesses.

Much of this support comes from our Small Business Start-Up Fund, which provides capital, materials and training for Christians to help them earn a living. It is especially significant for converts from other faiths, who find it particularly difficult to get jobs because of hostility and discrimination. Becoming self-sufficient not only provides for their basic needs, but also gives them self-respect and builds them up in their faith.

All over the UK today, supermarket chains, shops and restaurants are selling halal meat. We may find it on the menu at our children’s school or the local hospital, or be offered it when we go to a sporting event. If we go for a meal with Muslim friends, any meat we are served will probably be halal. It can be hard to avoid eating this meat, especially as if is often not labelled as halal and little information is available to the consumer.