A lot of our work for religious freedom involves blasphemy laws. Blasphemy is the legal term for insulting a religion, and blasphemy laws are designed to protect a particular religion from criticism. This can lead to violence against religious minorities and punishing people just for their faith.
- Sunday 2 July
Pray again for Egyptian secular writer Fatima Naoot, who is serving three years in prison for ‘contempt of religion’ after she criticised a religious festival on social media.
- Monday 3 July
Today, please pray for Sherif Gaber, a sociology student in Egypt who was arrested at 3am after having a debate with his university professor. He was sentenced to one year in prison with hard labour.
- Tuesday 4 July
Please pray for Kerolos Shouky Attallah, a Coptic student who, after ‘liking’ a Facebook page run by Christian converts, was harassed and his local community attacked. Mr Attallah was summoned to trial and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.
- Wednesday 5 July
Pakistan has extremely restrictive but vaguely defined blasphemy laws, which means that they are often used to settle personal scores. Please pray for the laws to be amended or repealed today.
- Thursday 6 July
Today, please pray for Asia Bibi, who remains in prison and facing the death penalty after being accused of blasphemy. She’s a Christian and a mother of five, and has been in prison since 2009.
- Friday 7 July
Though we often talk about Christians suffering as a result of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, most of the victims of these laws being used to settle personal scores are Muslims. Ask God to protect them today.
- Saturday 8 July
Father God, today we pray for everyone wrongfully accused of blasphemy. Protect them, we pray: see that justice delivers them swiftly. We pray that these laws that are used to punish people just for their faith soon become a thing of the past. Amen.