August 31, 2026
Blasphemy charges and anti-Christian hostility mount in Pakistan and Afghanistan
Fabricated accusations, mob threats and Taliban rule define one of the world’s most hostile regions for believers
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. — The Christian church across South Asia faces a wall of resistance, both legal and social, from Pakistan to Afghanistan. International advocacy organizations consistently rank Pakistan among the world’s most dangerous countries for Christians. Pakistani officials recently told their Senate’s Functional Committee on Human Rights that a majority of 333 blasphemy cases filed over the past five years across four provinces were fabricated — many of them targeting Christians and other religious minorities.
Despite these obstacles, The Tide® (www.thetide.org) global media ministry is not holding back its evangelization efforts to spread Christ’s message. Through radio broadcasts and social media, the ministry continues to carry the Gospel into one of the most dangerous and challenging regions in the world.
Next door in Afghanistan, the situation is even more dire. Earlier this month marked the five year anniversary since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, eliminating open expression of Christian faith. Converting from Islam to Christianity carries the death penalty, and no public Christian worship is permitted anywhere in the country. While The Tide continues to look for every available avenue to reach Afghan believers, operating there is unlike almost anywhere else the ministry works.
“Pakistan and Afghanistan are among the hardest places in the world to follow Jesus openly,” Shenk stated. “In Afghanistan, the government has shut the door entirely. In Pakistan, believers are navigating constant risk — accusations that don’t require proof, communities that respond with threats, and a legal system that often offers little protection. The Tide is not going to walk away from either country. We believe the Gospel is meant for every person in every place, and so we’re going to keep trying to reach them.”
The dangers facing Pakistani believers are severe and, in many cases, life-altering. One situation — the details of which cannot be disclosed to protect those involved — centers on a couple of Christian believers accused of burning a Quran. It’s important to note that The Tide does not condone disrespectful actions toward another religion. But to the best of The Tide’s knowledge, there has been no proof that it was Christians who burned the Quran; no eyewitness testimony or concrete evidence supports the charge. The response from the surrounding Muslim community has been to threaten retaliation: not by burning Bibles, but by burning down homes and places of worship.
A second incident is equally troubling. A near-riot broke out after a Muslim shopkeeper received a mailed envelope containing a desecrated page from a Quran, along with a photograph and ID card of a Pakistani Christian. Only swift action by local authorities kept the situation from turning violent. No evidence connected the Christian believer to the act — but his name and face were enough to put him and his community at risk.
Both situations reflect something The Tide’s partners have seen repeatedly across the region in places where Christians live in communities openly hostile to the Gospel: When tensions rise, an accusation surfaces — typically against a religious text or symbol rather than a person, and typically without eyewitness testimony or concrete evidence. The accused face swift consequences, and their families and neighbors are often pulled into the fallout alongside them. The penalties imposed are wildly disproportionate, even measured against the allegations themselves.
“What we are seeing in Pakistan is a pattern that we have watched develop over time,” said Don Shenk, executive director of The Tide. “Christians are being accused of crimes against sacred texts — with no eyewitnesses, no real evidence — and the response is immediate and severe. And yet in the middle of all of that, people are still responding to the Gospel. That tells you something about what God is doing there.”
The ministry’s commitment to spreading the Good News remains solid. In Pakistan, The Tide continues reaching people through radio broadcasts and social media. The numbers coming back from the region are notable given the context: one area reported 1,500 engagements with its program in the most recent quarter, while another reported 2,700. In a place where admitting that someone follows Jesus brings immediate and serious consequences, those numbers reflect heroic courage on the part of real people.
“When you consider what it means to engage with a Christian broadcast in Pakistan — what that person is actually risking — those numbers look very different than they would anywhere else,” Shenk said. “The Tide is there for those people. We are going to keep working there as long as we possibly can, because they are worth it.”
To learn more about The Tide’s ministry in Pakistan and the ongoing effort to reach believers across South Asia, visit www.thetide.org/where-we-work/pakistan/.
From its humble origins in 1946 as a local Gospel radio broadcast in Chambersburg, PA, The Tide® ministry has grown into a global network of Christian media broadcasting partnerships committed to worldwide evangelism and discipleship. In 2008, The Tide® ministry ended all English-language programming in order to focus on developing and distributing indigenous heart-language content in areas around the world that are less touched by the Gospel. Today, The Tide® ministry works with partners in multiple countries across three continents to broadcast Gospel-centered messages via radio, satellite TV and other media. In order to make disciples and plant churches, The Tide® ministry also provides resources for literature distribution, correspondence courses, discipleship and leadership training activities, and the distribution of radios and media players.
For more information about The Tide® ministry broadcast projects, history, radio programs around the world, special year-long campaigns, the weekly Global Update radio features or other news, visit its website at www.thetide.org or its Facebook page.
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To schedule interviews with Don Shenk, director of The Tide® global media ministry, contact Hamilton Strategies, Media@HamiltonStrategies.com, Beth Bogucki, 610.584.1096, ext. 105, or Daniel Moyer, ext. 104.
To inquire about airing any of The Tide® ministry radio broadcasts, contact Michael Hamilton, 610.584.1096, ext. 101.
