Pakistan extremists push to ban Bible

Islamic extremists in Pakistan are calling for the investigation into "pornographic" passages in the Bible – shocking the country’s Christian community.

Pakistan’s Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islami political party has informally petitioned the Supreme Court to declare certain Biblical passages as “blasphemous.” The group said that if the Supreme Court failed to do so, they would submit an application for the Bible to be formally banned in the country.

“The Catholic Church has no option but to be careful in its response,” says John Pontifex, Head of Press and Information at Aid to the Church in Need. “What they, as Catholics, feel is one thing – what they can say is another.”

Pontifex says the local Christian community is still “reeling” from the assassinations of Shahbaz Bhatti and Salman Taseer – two Christian politicians who spoke out against the country’s blasphemy laws.

Listen to John Pontifex’s full interview with Kelsea Brennan-Wessels: