First Links - 7.20.10

Pakistan Christians told to stay silent on Islam , UCA News

In the wake of recent blasphemy accusations against Christians, Faisalabad Church leaders have warned Catholics not to discuss Islamic doctrine.

“Do not talk about the religion [of the majority]. Our survival depends on this,” Dominican Father Pascal Paulus told parishioners at Holy Rosary Church at Mass on July 18.

“Respect Islam and try to be tolerant and peaceful,” the priest said after the church was stoned on July 10 by a crowd of 100 angry Muslims carrying sticks and glass bottles.

oncealed handguns won’t be allowed in Roman Catholic churches, despite a new state law allowing them.
“We don’t think it is appropriate to have guns in churches,” Danny Loar, executive director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops — the church’s public policy arm in Louisiana, said Monday.

The Seventh Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals has ordered the Board of Immigration Appeals to review Qiu Ping Li’s request for asylum in the United States because of her resistance to China’s one-child policy - and subsequent punishment by Chinese authorities.

In denying her asylum, Judge Richard Posner said, the Board of Immigration “overlooked the critical facts, and then it unconvincingly denied having overlooked them.”

Syria has banned the face-covering Islamic veil from the country’s universities to prevent what it sees as a threat to its secular identity, as similar moves in Europe spark cries of discrimination against Muslims.