A ‘Romantic Way to Escape Persecution’: Online Matchmaking
(Link): A ‘Romantic Way to Escape Persecution’: Online Matchmaking
Excerpt:
- Persecution watchdog group hopes romantic connections between Western and Pakistani Christians could lead to asylum. Other persecution groups aren’t so sure.
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An advocacy group for Pakistani Christians is now getting into the matchmaking business.
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The British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA) (Link): launched an online dating site in May to connect Pakistani Christians living all over the world.
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Named for a common term for a South Asian wedding, (Link): Shaadi4Christians serves as a tool for single Christians—and their parents, who still often arrange marriages for their children—scattered in the South Asian diaspora.
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The BCPA views marriage as a way to escape persecution.
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“I am sure that refugees in Thailand are going to want to use this because they are suffering so much,” chairman Wilson Chowdhry (Link): told The Christian Post. “A young doctor looking for marriage can be seen by a potential suitor in America and they can, in essence, find very romantic way to escape persecution.”
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About 4 million of Pakistan’s 200 million citizens are Christians. Due to violence and persecution, the country ranks among the (Link): top 10 of hardest places to be a Christian. A Taliban suicide bomber (Link): killed 70 at a Christian celebration this Easter. Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws sent Christian Asia Bibi (Link): to death row for allegedly making a derogatory comment about Muhammad.
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Women are especially (Link): vulnerable. Two Muslim men who raped Christian sisters were (Link): acquitted after a key witness refused to testify and a prosecutor didn’t show up in court. That wasn’t an anomaly—about 370 cases of forced conversion and marriage were (Link): reported in Pakistan in 2014.
- ….While other dating sites for South Asian Christians—like the popular Shaadi.com—can be sorted by religion, Shaadi4Christians offers potential suitors and their parents a way to make sure that the person they are interested in is telling the truth about his or her faith.
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“Many of these men hold a very nominal Christian belief and simply want a wife who is domesticated rather than career-driven, and one over whom they can exert control,” Chowdhry stated. “This site will enable parents to better understand the nature of the suitor.”
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The site lists each candidate’s involvement in a local church and allows both suitors and parents to request background checks from those churches.
- …. Two years ago, another unusual Christian dating site was launched. CalledTogether.us was created with the aim of connecting overseas missionaries and alleviating a problem that many face on the field: loneliness and a lack of romantic partners. The site has grown to 1,700 members.
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