USC Book Club: Blasphemy

February 2014:

Blasphemy: Sentenced to Death Over a Cup of Water

By Asia Bibi

Review: Asia Bibi, a poor Catholic mother of five, was sentenced to death for blasphemy after an argument with Muslim neighbors over a drink of water on a hot day in the fields. Already languishing in a Pakistani prison for four and a half years, her family has had to go into hiding and her most prominent public advocates have been assassinated.

In this moving memoir—the result of a clandestine collaboration with a French journalist—Bibi gets to tell her story in her own words. As the religious persecution of Christians and others is currently receiving greater public attention, her book gives an up-close account of the ugly effects of religious intolerance, vicious discrimination, and unjust blasphemy laws.

—Meinrad Scherer-Emunds, Executive Editor, U.S. Catholic

Chicago Review Press says: Asia Bibi, who has become a symbol for everyone concerned with ending the violence committed in the name of religion, bravely tells her shocking and inspiring story and makes a last cry for help from her prison cell.

Paperback: $16.95

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General Book Club guidelines

Questions for Discussion

1. If Asia had been a Muslim, would you have been so interested in her case? Why or why not?

2. Do you think that Western countries should interfere with the blasphemy law that is part of the Islamic Republic? Why or why not?

3. What do you think is the best way of saving Asia?