{"id":28650,"date":"2015-03-16T10:57:19","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T16:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?p=28650"},"modified":"2015-03-16T10:57:19","modified_gmt":"2015-03-16T16:57:19","slug":"14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/","title":{"rendered":"14 Dead in Terrorist Bombings of Pakistani Churches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo Source: Flickr Creative Commons by ResoluteSupportMedia https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/isafmedia\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Fourteen people are dead and at least 78 people were injured in deadly terrorist bombings of two Christian churches in Pakistan.\u00a0One of the Churches was Catholic the other protestant.<\/p>\n

Churches in Pakistan have been forced to post guards during Church services because of the threat of violence against Christians in that country. One of the guards, spotted the suicide bomber, trying to enter the Catholic Church and tried to stop him. This forced the terrorist to detonate the bomb before entering the church. This saved many lives.<\/p>\n

At Christ Church, guard Zahid Goga confronted the bomber, but was shot in the head by the bomber\u2019s accomplice.<\/p>\n

Pakistani Christians took to the streets in mass demonstrations following the attacks.<\/p>\n

According to news reports,<\/a> this particular slaughter of unarmed Christian civilians was the work of the Taliban. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistan Taliban has claimed responsibility for the murders. He says that the Taliban plans to carry out similar attacks in the future.<\/p>\n

There has been little coverage of these attacks in the mainstream media.<\/p>\n

From Catholic Herald:<\/a><\/p>\n

Although the incident has been condemned by Pakistan\u2019s Prime Minister, President and the majority of politicians, and compensation has been announced for the dead and injured, this is not enough,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Christians are constantly under attack, especially with their churches and colonies being attacked under the cover of blasphemy accusations, and sometimes by Taliban and extremists. Christians are living under constant fear for their lives and many have fled the country.<\/p>\n

I believe these attacks are sustained attempts to force Christians out of Pakistan.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a constant demand to provide security to Christians and even the Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered security to be provided to them, but the government has not done anything about it, Mr Saeed continued.<\/p>\n

I would like to salute to the bravery and sacrifice of Zahid Goga who martyred himself to save hundreds of faithful who were worshiping in church. I also salute the bravery of the policeman who was killed at Catholic church in his attempt to stop the attacker,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Saeed added that the government had failed to provide justice to Christians in light of previous attacks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From Voice of America:<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Hundreds of Pakistan\u2019s minority Christians rallied in the eastern city of Lahore, blocking roads and shouting slogans in a second day of protests against twin suicide bombings outside two churches in the city that left 15 people dead.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of police were deployed to the area Monday as Christian schools were closed for the funeral services for the victims.<\/p>\n

Seventy people were wounded Sunday in the attacks when two gunmen tried to shoot their way into the churches during services in the majority-Christian Lahore suburb of Youhanabad. When security guards stopped them at the gates, the attackers detonated explosives.<\/p>\n

After the attack, angry Christian mobs blocked highways, ransacked a bus station and killed two people they suspected of being involved in the attacks.<\/p>\n

A militant group allied to the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the blasts.<\/p>\n

Pakistan Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan denounced the bombings as an \u201cinhumane act\u201d and said terrorists are hitting soft targets like churches and mosques in utter desperation following increased military action against them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From CatholicCulture.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Members of the Taliban launched suicide bombings against a Catholic church and a Protestant church in Pakistan, leaving at least 14 dead.<\/p>\n

Arriving at the bombed church in the afternoon, Archbishop Sebastian Shah of Lahore complained, \u201cThe government has failed to protect us.\u201d The bishop said that Christians have pleaded for protection, warning of impending attacks, to no avail. He praised the members of the congregation who had blocked the terrorists from entering the church, at the cost of their own lives, describing them as martyrs. \u201cWe are already on the road to Calvary,\u201d the archbishop said.<\/p>\n

Later the Pakistani bishps\u2019 conference issued a statement deploring the bombing and calling upon all of the people of Pakistan to \u201cstand alongside their Christian brothers and sisters, against extremist forces.\u201d The statement demanded \u201cextraordinary measures\u201d by the government to protect religious minorities, and instructed Christians to \u201cavoid violence and to cooperate with the police in their investigations.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fourteen people are dead and at least 78 people were injured in deadly terrorist bombings of two Christian churches in Pakistan.\u00a0One of the Churches was Catholic the other protestant. Churches in Pakistan have been forced to post guards during Church services because of the threat of violence against Christians in that country. One of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1155,"featured_media":28658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4995,39,3814,40,726,7033,7325,5302,7055,1,3472],"tags":[523,724,7326,1249,7327,5246],"class_list":["post-28650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-bashers-2","category-christian-persecution-2","category-christian-solidarity","category-christianity-2","category-following-christ","category-human-rights-2","category-pakistan-2","category-post-christian-west","category-taliban-2","category-uncategorized","category-war-2","tag-christian-persecution","tag-islam","tag-islamic-radicals","tag-pakistan","tag-pakistan-church-bombings","tag-taliban"],"yoast_head":"\n14 Dead in Terrorist Bombings of Pakistani Churches<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fourteen people are dead and at least 78 people were injured in deadly terrorist bombings of two Christian churches in Pakistan.\u00a0One of the Churches was\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"14 Dead in Terrorist Bombings of Pakistani Churches\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fourteen people are dead and at least 78 people were injured in deadly terrorist bombings of two Christian churches in Pakistan.\u00a0One of the Churches was\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Public Catholic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-16T16:57:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/254\/2015\/03\/suicide-bomb-attack.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"457\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rebecca Hamilton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rebecca Hamilton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/\",\"name\":\"14 Dead in Terrorist Bombings of Pakistani Churches\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-16T16:57:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-16T16:57:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d\"},\"description\":\"Fourteen people are dead and at least 78 people were injured in deadly terrorist bombings of two Christian churches in Pakistan.\u00a0One of the Churches was\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"14 Dead in Terrorist Bombings of Pakistani Churches\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/\",\"name\":\"Public Catholic\",\"description\":\"Catholic in the Public Square\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d\",\"name\":\"Rebecca Hamilton\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rebecca Hamilton\"},\"description\":\"During her tenure in the Oklahoma Legislature, Rep. Hamilton has been an advocate for human rights, believing that government must support and defend the sanctity of all human lives, from conception to natural death. Representative Hamilton: Authored the original Victim\u2019s Protective Order to protect battered women, Obtained funding for the first statewide program for adult day care and the first statewide program of domestic violence shelters, and she She has also passed legislation to prevent law enforcement officials from publicly posting the private information of rape victims, Rep. Hamilton authored a 2005 law hailed as the most significant piece of pro-life legislation in Oklahoma in 30 years. She also passed the bill outlawing elective abortions in state-funded hospitals She has passed pro life bills requiring informed consent, parental notification, and limiting forced abortions. She also passed a law allowing prosecutors to file criminal charges against anyone who intentionally causes the death of an unborn child by harming the mother. Rep. Hamilton has also authored legislation ensuring taxpayers are not forced to subsidize elective abortions Rep. Hamilton was one of six original co-founders of first rape crisis center in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City Democrat has worked to bring a wide range of groups together to fight on the behalf of abused women, including the creation of the Annual Day of Prayer for an End to Violence Against Women at the Oklahoma Capitol. Rep. Hamilton has been married for 30 years to her husband, Rodney, and the couple has two grown sons. She attends St. James Catholic Church, and is a long-time volunteer at Birth Choice of Oklahoma.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/author\/rhamilton\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"14 Dead in Terrorist Bombings of Pakistani Churches","description":"Fourteen people are dead and at least 78 people were injured in deadly terrorist bombings of two Christian churches in Pakistan.\u00a0One of the Churches was","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"14 Dead in Terrorist Bombings of Pakistani Churches","og_description":"Fourteen people are dead and at least 78 people were injured in deadly terrorist bombings of two Christian churches in Pakistan.\u00a0One of the Churches was","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/","og_site_name":"Public Catholic","article_published_time":"2015-03-16T16:57:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":457,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/254\/2015\/03\/suicide-bomb-attack.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rebecca Hamilton","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rebecca Hamilton","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/","name":"14 Dead in Terrorist Bombings of Pakistani Churches","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-03-16T16:57:19+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-16T16:57:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d"},"description":"Fourteen people are dead and at least 78 people were injured in deadly terrorist bombings of two Christian churches in Pakistan.\u00a0One of the Churches was","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/2015\/03\/14-dead-in-terrorist-bombings-of-pakistani-churches\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"14 Dead in Terrorist Bombings of Pakistani Churches"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/","name":"Public Catholic","description":"Catholic in the Public Square","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/e8d2778109308e0e776e5c16eae7b67d","name":"Rebecca Hamilton","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6253ced313d53e0b7bfa51e5c9eb56d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Rebecca Hamilton"},"description":"During her tenure in the Oklahoma Legislature, Rep. Hamilton has been an advocate for human rights, believing that government must support and defend the sanctity of all human lives, from conception to natural death. Representative Hamilton: Authored the original Victim\u2019s Protective Order to protect battered women, Obtained funding for the first statewide program for adult day care and the first statewide program of domestic violence shelters, and she She has also passed legislation to prevent law enforcement officials from publicly posting the private information of rape victims, Rep. Hamilton authored a 2005 law hailed as the most significant piece of pro-life legislation in Oklahoma in 30 years. She also passed the bill outlawing elective abortions in state-funded hospitals She has passed pro life bills requiring informed consent, parental notification, and limiting forced abortions. She also passed a law allowing prosecutors to file criminal charges against anyone who intentionally causes the death of an unborn child by harming the mother. Rep. Hamilton has also authored legislation ensuring taxpayers are not forced to subsidize elective abortions Rep. Hamilton was one of six original co-founders of first rape crisis center in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City Democrat has worked to bring a wide range of groups together to fight on the behalf of abused women, including the creation of the Annual Day of Prayer for an End to Violence Against Women at the Oklahoma Capitol. Rep. Hamilton has been married for 30 years to her husband, Rodney, and the couple has two grown sons. She attends St. James Catholic Church, and is a long-time volunteer at Birth Choice of Oklahoma.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/author\/rhamilton\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28650"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28659,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28650\/revisions\/28659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/publiccatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}