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Christian Century, Sept 12, 2001

FOUND GUILTY of blasphemy by a Pakastani criminal court, Dr. Younus Shaikh has been sentenced to death by hanging. Dr. Shaikh, a medical school lecturer, had stated that until Muhammad received revelations from Allah at age 40, the prophet was not a Muslim, and that Muhammad and his family did not pursue Muslim practices prior to his founding of Islam. How stating such obvious facts could constitute blasphemy was not entirely clear. Shaikh, who says he is a devout Muslim, is appealing his sentence.

Fred Phelps, pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, on evangelist Billy Graham: "We're going to picket Billy Graham's funeral. He's a [former] friend of mine. He is a perverted, depraved, degenerate, backsliding reprobate.... We've already got--I think--12, maybe 14, big signs we're going to use at his funeral" (quoted in a Door interview).