Nearly 70% Pakistanis support Christians to build churches in Pakistan
Headlines Saturday, January 9th, 2010As many as 69 percent of Pakistanis believed that Christians in Muslim countries like Pakistan should be allowed to construct churches for worship, a survey said on Friday.
The remaining 31 percent either did not support the idea or gave no response, according to a Gilani Research Foundation survey carried out by Gallup Pakistan.
The question was asked in the wake of the news that a majority of the Swiss voters had supported to ban the building of mosques with minarets in its neighborhoods.
A nationally representative sample of men and women from across the country were asked “In your opinion, in Muslim countries like Pakistan, where Christians are in minority, should they be allowed to build church or not?” Sixty nine percent claimed to be in the favor of letting Christians build their own public worship sites, while 29 percent are against it. The remaining 2 percent of the respondents did not respond.
The findings of the survey revealed that a proportionately higher percentage of ruralites, and Pakistani men are slightly more tolerant towards the right of minorities to worship.
Interestingly, the data also showed that contrary to what is popularly perceived about the residents of the North West Frontier Province, a vast majority believed that Christian minorities have a right to worship and the governments of Muslim countries like Pakistan should allow the construction of their churches.
The study was released by Gilani foundation and carried out by Gallup Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International. The latest survey was carried out among a sample of 2,740 men and women in rural and urban areas of all four provinces of the country.
Saint Patrick’s Cathedral Church in Karachi, Pakistan (Picture Above)
St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Karachi, is situated on Shahrah-e-Iraq, formerly known as Clarke Street, located near the Empress Market in Karachi, Pakistan.
The first church in Sindh (except for possibly one in Thatta) was initially built on the grounds of this cathedral in 1845, and was called St. Patrick’s Church. It was in April 1881 that the present cathedral was opened, since the Christian community grew in number, and the need for a larger place of worship became apparent. Despite the construction of the new building, the little church continued to function until it was destroyed by a storm in 1885.
The present-day cathedral is built in Gothic style; it measures 170 ft by 75 ft, and has the capacity to accommodate at least 1,500 worshippers at the same time. It was designed by three members of the Society of Jesus: Father Wagner, Brother Kluver and Brother Lau.
The Gazetteer of the Province of Sindh provides a description of the cathedral:
“Its exterior is not ornamental, though striking from a distance, but money and art have been lavished on the interior. The chancel, itself spacious, acquires a special impressiveness but its additional height, while the noble contours of the aspiring altar are seen to the best advantage. The whole interior is painted in oil and the windows are all of stained glass, the members of the congregation.”
In 1978 the cathedral celebrated its centenary. The Pakistan Post Office issued special commorative stamps on the occasion. Pope John Paul I sent special greetings and blessings on the occasion.
Today, the cathedral’s grounds are adorned with a marble monument of Christ the King, which was constructed in 1931 to commemorate the memory of the Jesuit Mission in Sindh. The Parish Priest is Father Edward Joseph.
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on Jan 9 2010. Filed under