The Challenge of Being a Christian in Pakistan
When an Easter bombing killed at least 70 people in a Pakistan park in 2016, someone from the group claiming responsibility proclaimed it was a deliberate attack on Christians. “It’s our message to the government that we will carry out such attacks again until sharia [Islamic law] is imposed in the country,” Ahsanullah Ahsan told the Washington Post.
The country's anti-blasphemy laws often fuel these attacks. These laws prescribe a mandatory death penalty when someone "insults" Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, and strict penalties for other infractions such as insulting Islam, the Quran, or certain holy people.
The laws are disproportionately applied against the Christian minority, according to a 2020 article by the BBC — making it difficult and dangerous to live out one’s faith in public. Thus, many Christians have been imprisoned for long periods, while others are in and out of prison.
Why is that? What's the history between Christians and Muslims in Pakistan?
Second-class citizens
Pakistan is the fifth most populous and second largest Muslim country in the world. Its two largest religious minorities are Hindus (1.73% of the population) and Christians (1.27%).
Christian communities exist in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and in cities such as Karachi (12th-largest city in the world); but the majority live in the eastern Punjab province.
Although some Pakistani Christians are well-off, the majority “are descended from low-caste Hindus who converted under the British Raj, in part to escape the caste system,” according to a 2016 BBC article.
Thus, Pakistani Muslims often regard Christians not just as religiously different but also as second-class citizens. Historically, authorities relegated them to dirty and derogatory occupations. One political columnist, based in Pakistan, notes how Christians are “hugely overrepresented in the ‘sweeper’ category” of jobs: street and gutter cleaners, and hospital janitors.
So Christians often find themselves trapped in a cycle of poor education and poverty. Some are victims of bonded labor.
Some claim the targeting is more tied to caste than to faith. “At the risk of oversimplification,” writes that same political columnist, “caste is an ideology and associated set of material practices that deem certain human populations inherently superior/inferior to others.”
Without question, however, Muslim extremists target Pakistan's Christians — both their homes and their places of worship. The more active a church is in outreach and youth work, the stronger the persecution and opposition. That opposition is not simply about caste.
One Pakistani Christian woman, Asia Bibi, spent eight years on death row on false charges of blasphemy. When the country’s Supreme Court quashed the sentence in 2018, Bibi fled to Canada to escape threats on her life. She published her story in a memoir, Enfin Libre! (Finally Free).
A divided Christian community
In this complex environment, new converts to Christianity from a Muslim background are reluctant to join a local Christian church. They often do not identify with the socioeconomic community; they definitely do not understand the Christian subculture; and they already face rejection and persecution from the Muslim community for their decision.
At the same time, Christian churches are often reluctant to accept Muslim-background believers (known as MBBs). They might fear that an MBB is actually a plant of the Pakistani government or a violent Islamic group, or that accepting converts could lead to increased persecution for the church. And just as MBBs do not understand the Christian subculture, neither do those born into Christian families understand how to relate to new believers raised in Muslim homes.
Because of these tensions, an MBB’s strongest chance for discipleship and growth in his or her new faith lies in connecting with other MBBs.
Life TV Pakistan reaches out to MBBs — and to other Muslims curious about the Christian faith — via television and digital media. Our 24-hour satellite TV channel broadcasts programs in Pakistan’s national language, Urdu, that proclaim the gospel with love and respect. We produce over 400 original Urdu programs ourselves each year, many hosted by former Muslims.
For ease of access and to protect their safety, viewers can engage through digital media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, our website, and phone apps. Currently, one of our Facebook pages has over 200,000 followers. Pakistani believers answer text messages and calls from viewers every day — praying, answering questions, and connecting them with discipleship resources.
We also invite them to participate in our virtual house church — a safe place to enjoy Christian teaching and fellowship.
Life in Pakistan is difficult for those born into the Christian faith, and often perilous for those who turn to Christ from the Muslim faith. Help us reach Pakistani Muslims for Christ and disciple them in their new faith by becoming a partner of Life TV Pakistan. Contact us to find out more about partnership.
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Sources: Muslim Population by Country 2022, worldpopulationreview.com; Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Government of Pakistan, 2017; “World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Pakistan : Christians,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees, refworld.org; World City Populations 2022, worldpopulationreview.com; “In Pakistan, discrimination against Christians has more to do with caste than faith” by Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, dawn.com, Dec. 25, 2021; “Who Are Pakistan’s Christians,” scroll.in; March 28, 2016, bbc.com;”Pakistan's Christians: the precarious position of a minority community” by Michael Holtz, March 28, 2016, The Christian Science Monitor; “Asia Bibi: I always believed I would be freed,” Feb. 28, 2020, bbc.com.