‘No Response Yet’: Silence From Pakistan On Grave Human Rights Violations Surrounding Forced Religious Conversions And Child Marriage Of Minority Girls – OpEd

October 5, 2026
By Kashif Nawab


Three UN Special Rapporteurs join UN Human Rights Council side-event to remind Pakistan of its international human rights and domestic law obligations to protect its children against slavery and sexual violence, and uphold human rights.

“We don’t know where they are keeping her […] We have terrible thoughts about what is happening to her,” the mother of Maria Shahbaz pleads in the video playing in the Human Rights Council side-event room Concordia 1; “Help us bring our daughters back,” is the appeal that echoes from the families of girls abducted and forcibly converted by their Muslim neighbours.

Professor Nicolas Levrat, UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues provides the keynote statement. His position is clear, the impunity surrounding forced religious conversions will, “not be solved by new laws or legislation.” He notes that Pakistan has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and that the rights of children are explicitly stated there; the practice of forced religious conversion and child marriage violate Pakistan’s international and domestic law commitments. Prof. Levrat, UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues expresses opposition to legislation banning forced religious conversion noting during the event noting that – internationally – such legislation is always applied discriminatorily by the majority religion against minority religions. Prof. Levrat instead appeals to the Pakistani authorities to ensure better access to justice for minorities, noting the opening testimonies of the families where the father of Maria Shahbaz described how the family went from court to court and “nothing happened.” Professor Levrat calls for training and technical cooperation of law enforcement and legal authorities. He does not disregard legal appeals, but emphasises that there are several hurdles to protecting the rights of the child that need to be tackled in tandem – the law but also education to counter the societal pressure against minorities. “This has to be worked on,” he says, noting there is a widespread bias in favour of the dominant group, “the authorities need to seriously consider the complaints – issue justice,” Prof. Levrat concludes.

Joining online Dr. Katarina Schwarz, an international and comparative legal scholar with extensive experience on contemporary forms of slavery, human trafficking, and related forms of exploitation and the newly appointed Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery and trafficking in persons, raises how child marriage falls under the category of slavery. She clearly describes how slavery does not occur in a vacuum but often foments in an environment of discrimination and often targets women and girls. She adamantly defends the legal position that responsibility to protect the girls rests with the state. She urges Pakistan to work preventatively and implement “Robust and effective protection to fulfil their obligation.”


Joining online as well, the Special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, Reem Alsalem, opens her statement with a clear outline of the legal frameworks for the protection of women and girls in Pakistan. She is positive to the passing of the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2026 which passed in Punjab and came into force in May 2026, setting 18 years as the minimum legal age for marriage for both boys and girls and declaring underage marriage a non-bailable offence. Section 5 of the law also made cohabitation with a child resulting from such a marriage as child abuse, regardless of the child’s consent. The passing of this bill in Punjab is significant, as Punjab is the state where the majority of abductions and forced religious conversions of Christian girls occur, as noted in Jubilee Campaign’s report “Stolen Girls.” She notes with concern the inconsistent application of these laws however, where accountability often was dependent on which court and the level of engagement by the lawyers. She also describes how lack of accountability is exacerbated due to pressure on victims and families to withdraw complaints by the abductors and sometimes even law enforcement.

Christophe Foltzenlogel, advocacy officer with the European Centre for Law and Justice, expounds on the backdrop of discrimination of minorities, particularly against Christian minorities, in Pakistan. He describes the slow justice system, specifically in an anti-blasphemy law case: “Consider Shahzad Masih. He was just 16 years old when [authorities] arrested [him] in 2017 simply for repeating a conversation.” He says that even though the police commissioner testified that Shahzad’s words were not insulting because of immense pressure from fundamentalist groups who pack the courtrooms to intimidate judges, the court refused to try him as a minor and sentenced him to death in November 2022. Shahzad Masih recently told his lawyers: “They should just hang me. I cannot bear this suffering of waiting every single day.”


Christophe Foltzenlogel joins his co-panelists in emphasising that Pakistan has the laws but is not implementing them. He spotlights the mishandling of justice in forced religious conversion cases and woefully notes that there is more care given to intangible objects that have been stolen than the abduction of a human life. In cases of theft the object is sought out and placed under police custody or returned to its owner but even now, 13-year old Maria Shahbaz – abducted by a 30 year old man – remains under the control of her abductor, “the thief.”

Joseph Janssen, Pakistani human rights advocate and advocacy officer with Jubilee Campaign, has met with survivors of forced religious conversion and abductions. He outlines the extent of the problem drawing from Jubilee Campaign’s report “Stolen Girls.” He describes what took place in the court during one of the most recent cases of a minor who was forcibly converted and married off to an older Muslim man, Amber Nadeem. He says, “I personally witnessed lawyers arguing that because she had converted to Islam, she could not return to her Christian parents, as this would constitute apostasy. Her status as a child was being pushed aside.”

This speaks to the societal pressure described by Professor Nicolas Levrat, noting that there are injustices that need to be confronted in tandem with the legislative and other advocacy to secure sustainable protection for minorities today and tomorrow, recognising minorities as equals in dignity and rights.

“Maria Shahbaz’s case has been raised locally and internationally, including at the European Parliament and the United Nations,” Joseph Janssen concludes, “Yet she remains in the custody of her alleged abductor and purported husband. Why has she still not been placed in government protective custody, away from those accused of harming her?”


He echoes the plea of the families: Pakistan needs to rescue the girls from their abductors while they wait for justice and heed the international and domestic calls for implementation of existing laws and not just lip service, Maria Shahbaz and others need to be returned to their parents.

“No response yet,” Prof. Nicolas Levrat says in response to a question about what has happened to the the UN Special Procedures’ communication which raised concern the impunity surrounding forced religious conversions and abductions of women and girls in Pakistan and other countries. The communication was followed up several times with press releases including most recently in April 2026, noting that the scale and persistence of these human rights violations, “point to systemic discrimination against non-Muslim women and girls who are forced or compelled to convert to Islam in order to marry Muslim men.” The Special Procedures in that release called on the government of Pakistan to: “intensify efforts to eradicate forced conversions, to raise the minimum age for marriage to 18 in all provinces and territories, to criminalise forced religious conversion as a distinct offence and to enforce applicable laws pertaining to human trafficking and sexual violence.” The implementation of the recommendations is yet to be seen but the panelists’ hopes are that this side-event will be a reminder to Pakistan to put the plight of Pakistan’s daughters on the top of their agenda, to bring them back to safety and rescue them from the grasp of their rapists and captors.


About Kashif Nawab
Kashif Nawab is a Director with Social Action Transformation of Humanity (SATH) in Pakistan.

'This is blasphemy': Prominent Christian leader has had it with Trump

Nick Hilden

September 14, 2026 

ALTERNET


On Monday, new reporting revealed that a prominent Christian leader has had it with the “blasphemy” of President Donald Trump. According to the Washington Post, John Whitehead – founder of the powerful Christian legal movement – believes that movement has “gone astray" in the era of MAGA.

As the Post reports, “The cause has become dangerously politicized and intertwined with right-wing politics, he says, wrongly staying quiet as Muslim rights are under attack and as President Donald Trump allows immigration enforcement officers into houses of worship. While religious-liberties-focused law firms have successfully argued in federal courts to greatly expand what it means to freely exercise one’s faith, Whitehead says the movement has wrongly elevated the rights of conservative Christians over those of religious minorities. He points to new laws in a handful of states mandating public schools to prominently hang the King James version of the Ten Commandments and threats last month by Texas officials against airports that offer foot-washing stations for Muslim travelers.”

“We started out trying to protect the little people,” Whitehead said. Now leaders in the movement are “sitting in the White House with Trump. They’re now part of the nationalist movement. Religious liberty is a constitutional principle, not a political program.” This position, said one former colleague, has made Whitehead a “persona non grata” within the movement.


“This is not faith. This is blasphemy baptized in nationalism,” Whitehead and his wife, Nisha Whitehead, wrote in March of Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of religious language to promote the war in Iran. In October, after then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem prayed in public at an ICE facility in Portland, he wrote that her actions were “not Jesus’ Christianity — it is Christianity draped in the flag and wielding the weapons of war.”

Ironically, Whitehead once argued that the United States should be an explicitly Christian nation, and even wrote a book proposing the idea – a position embraced in recent years by Hegseth, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and other Trump allies. And while Whitehead once argued that LGBTQ rights were a threat to Christianity, according to the Post, “by the mid-1990s, he was criticizing an amendment to the Colorado state constitution that barred communities from passing laws to prohibit discrimination against gay and transgender people.” He started moving away from Christian nationalism, which he says was the result of thinking differently about who Jesus really was. “We’re here to care for others,” he says now.


As the Post reports, “He says he finds value in some proposals of the Trump administration’s religious liberty commission, including efforts to create more ‘Know Your Rights’ materials in places like schools and hospitals. However, he said, the Christian legal movement is part of ‘a lot of overstepping.’ He pointed to the Ten Commandments laws and to a Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and was represented in court by religious liberties law firms. ‘If the government is acting as a Christian nationalist organization as opposed to one representing the Constitution and all Americans, there is a problem,’ Whitehead said.”

Over the course of Trump’s second term, Whitehead has argued in support of foreign nationals who lost their visas and were deported after protesting against Israel, as well as universities whose funding was suspended as part of the White House’s campaign against DEI, campus protests and antisemitism. One brief argued against the administration’s decision to allow immigration enforcement inside houses of worship.

“Religious liberty is a constitutional principle, not a political program,” he said. “The moment religious freedom organizations begin aligning themselves with those in power, or framing their work in partisan or ideological terms, they risk weakening the very principle they are trying to defend.”

 Spiritual Politics

Al Mohler signs on to Christian nationalism

(RNS) — Will that make him a Southern Baptist pariah?

The Rev. Al Mohler addresses the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, June 11, 2025. (RNS photo/Tim Heitman)

Mark Silk

September 11, 2026 

RNS

(RNS) — To the consternation of some pretty conservative Southern Baptists, Al Mohler, the longtime president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has turned away from the traditional Baptist support for church-state separation to embrace Christian nationalism. For a major figure in the country’s largest Protestant denomination and a stalwart of the denomination’s “conservative resurgence,” that’s no small thing. 

Mohler’s embrace has drawn attention because of a talk he gave at a roundtable on Christian nationalism held at the University of Idaho last month. The participants in the roundtable were four of the contributors to “Five Views on Christian Nationalism,” a book recently published by Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson’s Canon Press. The book’s editor asked each contributor to propose a place for Christianity in an imagined 2099 constitutional convention for a new United States.

In his talk, Mohler harks back to the longstanding criticism of the U.S. Constitution for failing to recognize God’s role in the American experiment, the way the Declaration of Independence does by stating that people are “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.” That was, said Mohler, “a constitutional error.”

Let us note that this supposed error was remedied in the Confederate Constitution by “invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God.” Mohler, a Florida native, asks for a full-fledged acknowledgement:

I’m talking about the historical, legal, consequential affirmation of the fact that the Christian truth claim is the necessary precondition for the American experiment. The necessary precondition for the exercise of religious liberty or for American liberty as a whole. The necessary precondition for our understanding of what it means even to be a nation.

To be sure, the new constitution “would allow non-Christians, specifically Jewish citizens, to enjoy full citizenship and comprehensive participation in the political order, retaining the full measure of religious liberty and requiring only their formal acknowledgement of the Christian foundations of the republic, its constitution and its laws,” Mohler writes in his contribution to the book. “But its acknowledgement must be substantial.” Beyond such acknowledgement, “the basic moral principles and precepts of biblical Christianity would be fundamental to the state and to its laws.”

There’s more.

In line with Article VI of the (current) Constitution, Mohler claims there would be no religious test for public office but does not indicate how that could be squared with “officeholders’ public and authentic acknowledgement of the nation’s formal commitment to the God of the Bible, specifically the Holy Trinity,” and “an acknowledgement of the binding moral authority of the Bible, including both the Old and New Testaments.”

Or how robust protections for religious liberty for all citizens could exist “within the context of the acknowledgement of Christianity as foundational to the state.” Or alongside the government’s “full right to restrict and punish blasphemy.” Or alongside restrictions on the activity of atheists in the public square. 

Among the distressed responses from other Southern Baptists, the most notable has come from Richard Land, the former president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and for many years one of Mohler’s closest comrades-in-arms. 

Land quotes from Article XVII of the denomination’s 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, which says, among other things, “Church and state should be separate” and “The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work.” How, he asks, is Mohler’s acknowledgement requirement not a religious test? Mohler’s prescription would severely diminish the “bedrock” Baptist principles of religious freedom and “soul freedom.” And finally: “I fervently pray he will reconsider his position.”

Are we then to conclude that Mohler has turned himself into a Southern Baptist pariah? Let’s not jump to conclusions.

In my edited volume “Understanding Christian Nationalism,” sociologist Nancy Ammerman analyzes the evolution of resolutions passed by delegates to its annual meetings to show how the SBC has itself moved in the direction of Christian nationalism. For example, a 2016 resolution titled, “On Biblical Sexuality and the Freedom of Conscience,” holds that “(a)ny law that directly contradicts natural law and biblical truth is an unjust law.”

Similarly, in 2021, an Abolishing Abortion resolution declaring the Supreme Court’s Roe decision both evil and unconstitutional asserts that “governing authorities at every level have a duty before God to uphold justice, asserting their God-ordained and constitutional authority to establish equal protection under the law … by intervening, ignoring, or nullifying iniquitous decisions when other authorities, such as the Supreme Court, condone such injustices.” Notes Ammerman, “The implication seems to be that true Christian citizenship only recognizes governmental authority as legitimate when it conforms to their understanding of biblical mandates, and resistance may sometimes be in order.”

To be sure, none of the SBC’s recent resolutions go as far as Mohler has in abandoning long-held Baptist principles. But it’s not hard to believe that a significant number of his co-religionists will follow in his footsteps.

Dem Senate hopeful Talarico touts his faith. Texas Republicans call it blasphemy.

Matthew Choi, 

(c) 2026 , The Washington Post
Sun, August 16, 2026 




PLANO, Texas - Talking about Jesus is pretty routine for Texans running for office. But usually not Democrats.

State Rep. James Talarico is changing the script, leaning into his background in a progressive Presbyterian seminary.

It's a playbook that has helped propel his political career. Before he was the Democrats' hope to flip a Republican Senate seat in Texas, the state lawmaker often invoked the Bible to justify progressive policy positions in the Texas Capitol. Past floor speeches and sermons on abortion, gender equity and religious pluralism helped give him the online platform that launched his Senate run.

He is now making his faith a central part of his Senate campaign, telling voters "it's time to start flipping tables" and take back faith from the religious right - a reference to the biblical story of Jesus flipping over tables in the Temple of Jerusalem to purge merchants profiting off a house of worship. Talarico boils down his core message to two commandments from the Bible: Love God and love your neighbor.

His allies say Talarico's approach could help win over faith-based voters in the Bible Belt's largest state. But Talarico's past remarks regarding the Bible have infuriated some evangelical voters, and attacking Talarico's comments is now a regular part of his Republican opponent's stump speech.

"First of all, he said God is nonbinary. He also said, 'I'm a Christian, but I hate Christianity.' How many Christians do you know have said that?" Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) recently told an audience of supporters in North Texas. "I've never met one."

Talarico, 37, and Paxton, a 63-year-old staunch evangelical Trump ally, are engaged in a competitive general election race that could be pivotal in Democrats' attempt to retake control of the Senate.

Texas has not elected a Democratic senator in nearly four decades, but Democrats are optimistic, given Talarico's prodigious fundraising and novel campaign message, as well as Paxton's past of personal and legal scandals. Public polling has had the two candidates neck and neck for weeks.

Rep. Christian Menefee (D-Texas), a Talarico supporter who grew up in Baptist and nondenominational churches, said an appeal to faith could be a key ingredient to break the Democrats' drought. Talarico's openness about faith could attract Christian voters who have voted Republican in the past because they never saw Democrats address their faith publicly before, Menefee said

"When James came onto the scene, and this was before this race, when he worked in the teachings of the Bible into some of his opposition to bills while he's at the state legislature, people immediately took notice," Menefee said. "Anybody who thinks that it won't play a role in this election has not spent much time in Texas."

Brooke Kemp, a schoolteacher from Arlington, Texas, said she resonated with Talarico's emphasis on biblical teachings of caring for others rather than some of the cultural issues that have motivated the state's religious right.

"He has it right," Kemp said. "I'm just practicing what Jesus told us is the tenets of my faith as a Methodist: Loving my neighbor, caring for others."

But conservative evangelicals have expressed dismay at Talarico's use of biblical text to justify positions they view as morally reprehensible.

Talarico has previously invoked the Annunciation, the biblical event when the archangel Gabriel told Mary that she would carry the baby Jesus, to justify abortion. Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Talarico claimed that God asked for Mary's consent before she became pregnant with Jesus.

He has also said during a 2021 legislative floor debate that "God is nonbinary" while opposing a bill barring trans children from participating in sports aligned with their self-identified gender. And Talarico said in 2021 that he was a Christian who hates Christianity in an expression of frustration with some elements of organized religion that peddle in Christian nationalism apart from teachings of Jesus.

"It is blasphemous," said Republican state Rep. Matt Shaheen, a deacon at the influential Prestonwood Baptist Church. Shaheen dismissed the idea that Talarico could convert evangelicals to voting Democratic as "naive," saying "if anything, it probably frustrates evangelicals" to see their faith misrepresented.

Talarico acknowledges that his progressive positions, particularly his stance on abortion, put him at odds with many voters of faith. But he asserts those disagreements shouldn't block Democrats from building coalitions with voters who are driven by the same Biblical tenets that drive his campaign.

"People of good faith can arrive at different moral conclusions," Talarico said on a podcast appearance last spring. Talarico noted that even though Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV hold opposite views from him on abortion he still holds them as spiritual heroes.

He has also walked back some of his most provocative remarks, saying he regrets some of his comments that he said could be "cringy." He told CBS News that he called God nonbinary to emphasize that God can't be categorized in human terms and cited Galatians 3:28, which teaches that all are equal before God, regardless of nationality, gender or class.

The divergent takes on Talarico can be explained in part by differences between the mainline Protestantism he espouses and the evangelical Christianity that makes up a plurality of Christian voters in Texas.

Mainline Protestants tend to view faith as part of a pluralistic religious and social landscape that can adapt to the needs of the people it serves. Evangelicals recognize only one form of salvation - through Jesus - and the infallibility of the literal text of the Bible.

Roughly 67 percent of Texas adults identify as Christian, with roughly 27 percent identifying as evangelical, compared to only 10 percent identifying as mainline Protestant, according to Pew Research Center. Catholics make up about 22 percent of Texas adults, making them the second largest denomination in the state.

Evangelical voters have been some of the Republican coalition's most reliable supporters. Nearly 70 percent of White evangelicals nationally approve of President Donald Trump's performance, according to Pew.

Paxton identifies as an evangelical and has invoked his faith throughout his time in office as a major motivator for his conservative beliefs.

He and his wife were longtime members of the influential Prestonwood Baptist Church, and he worked at its pregnancy and family care center, which ministers to women while discouraging them from having abortions. He has also questioned the constitutionality of separating church and state and called for encouraging public school students to pray and read the Bible in school.

"Faith is the driver of my life, and so it animates everything that I do. It animates, hopefully, how I treat people," Paxton said. "I hope that when I'm in office, I'm thinking about what's best for my constituents and that in the end, I'm here to represent my neighbors and do the best thing I can for my neighbors because that's what my faith would ask me to do."

But Paxton has also had personal scandals that are at odds with church doctrine. Those include a spate of legal controversies, including alleged corruption involving an extramarital affair that led to his impeachment by the Texas House (he was later acquitted by the Senate). Paxton and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, divorced in July of last year over alleged adultery.

Angela Paxton cited "biblical grounds" for the separation, writing in a social media: "I believe marriage is a sacred covenant and I have earnestly pursued reconciliation. But in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken to remain in the marriage."

Ken Paxton no longer attends Prestonwood Baptist Church, the sprawling North Texas megachurch where he and his wife attended together for years. When asked where Paxton now goes to church, his campaign said in a written response: "The Attorney General has been worshipping at churches in communities all across the state. Right now, our focus is on meeting Texans where they are and visiting churches throughout Texas as he continues to travel across the state."

Some of Paxton's evangelical supporters say forgiving lapses in judgment is easier than looking past fundamental disagreements on doctrine.

"I say, Here for the grace of God go I. There is nobody without a past," said Jennie Evans, a nondenominational Christian and Paxton supporter from Dallas, reflecting the core evangelical belief that humans are all equally sinners and in need of redemption. Evans said all elected leaders have fallen short personally, but she felt Paxton's core values still aligned with hers. Talarico's did not, she said.

When asked about Paxton's past conduct, Shannon Markle, another evangelical Paxton supporter from Dallas, quoted from Romans and II Corinthians and said: "No one runs for office that is a saint. No one. Every one of us is just jars of clay. Every one of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

But when asked about Talarico's interpretation of the Bible, she was much less receptive.

"I think it is blasphemous. I think he is ignorant. But I do think that he will be judged," Markle said. "We all will."

UN Letter Warns Nigeria Of Violence Risk To Christian Women, Girls




August 14, 2026
EWTN News
By Madalaine Elhabbal

Key Takeaways

A joint letter from five UN human rights experts, made public after Nigeria failed to respond within 60 days, warns of heightened risks of religiously motivated violence against Christian women and girls in northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt.

The experts cite patterns of killings, abductions, sexual violence, forced conversion and forced marriage attributed to groups such as Boko Haram, ISWAP and Fulani herder militias, along with alleged official inaction, negligence or complicity.

They call on Nigerian authorities to investigate the reported cases, protect religious minorities, review laws affecting freedom of religion and expression (including blasphemy laws), implement interim protective measures for victims, and hold perpetrators accountable.

A joint letter from U.N. human rights experts warning Nigerian officials of the heightened risk of violence against Christian women and girls in the country has been made public after the government failed to respond within 60 days.

The June 1 letter cited attacks against Christian women and girls in northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt region, including killings, forced conversion, and sexual violence. The letter was signed by Reem Alsalem, U.N. special rapporteur on violence against women and girls; Gabriella Citroni, chair-rapporteur of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; Morris Tidball-Binz, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions; Nicolas Levrat, U.N. special rapporteur on minority issues; and Alice Jill Edwards, U.N. special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.


“With respect to the situation of religious or belief minorities, we wish to raise serious concern regarding patterns of religiously motivated violence and persecution or otherwise disproportionately targeting persons belonging to religious minority communities within affected federated states or local areas, especially Christians, including women and girls,” the letter said.

The U.N. experts attributed the rising violence to armed extremist groups such as Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and Fulani herder militias operating across the north and Middle Belt region and pointed to “acquiescence” and “negligence” on the part of Nigerian officials to counter them.

The letter cited the abduction and sexual assault of two women by armed militants, the forced conversion and marriage of a 13-year-old girl, and the abduction of a pastor’s two daughters along with several members of a church by Boko Haram, as well as a 16-year-old girl whose hand was cut off after her family refused a marriage proposal by armed militants.

“While we do not wish to prejudge the accuracy of these allegations reported to us, we would like to especially express our grave concern regarding the alleged abduction and sexual assault of girls, the intimidation by armed groups and subsequent abduction and acts tantamount to enforced disappearance of the church members in Shikarkir,” the U.N. experts said.

“We are also disturbed by reports of the inaction and complicity of government officials in the face of these abuses, the slowness of investigations and search actions aimed at determining the fate and whereabouts of abducted girls,” they said.

The letter further called on Nigerian officials to respond to the allegations and to provide status updates on investigations and measures taken to combat violence against women and girls. They also asked for status updates on “any laws that affect the exercise of freedom of religion or belief and freedom of opinion and expression, including so-called ‘blasphemy’ laws.”


The letter asked the Nigerian government to provide information on measures taken to protect the rights of religious minorities, particularly in northern states, and urged authorities to take immediate steps to halt violence against women and girls.

The experts concluded by calling for interim measures to protect abductees, victims of sexual violence, and victims of forced conversion and forced marriage, particularly minors and those who have not been reunited with their families. The experts also urged Nigerian officials to prevent further violations and hold accountable those responsible if the allegations are substantiated.

PAKISTAN

Equal citizens

Editorial 

Published August 11, 2026

DAWN

The major issues of minority communities were identified as forced conversion and kidnapping of girls and women. — AFP/File

AUG 11 occupies a special place in our history because it was on this day in 1947 that Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah set out what citizenship in the new state ought to mean. Addressing the Constituent Assembly, he spoke of a country in which people were free to go to their temples, mosques or other places of worship, and where religion, caste or creed would not determine their standing before the state.

He insisted that citizens should enjoy equal rights, privileges and obligations, and that discrimination between communities had no place in the order Pakistan was attempting to build. These remarks formed part of a wider vision of government based on law, impartiality, protection of life and property, and the safeguarding of religious belief.


It is fitting, then, that minority rights activists will gather outside Mazar-i-Quaid in Karachi today to recall that promise and demand that it be honoured. The Minority Rights March has put forward 11 demands, including stronger safeguards against forced conversions, protection from the misuse of blasphemy laws, greater political representation, removal of discriminatory material from textbooks, protection of minority properties and places of worship, and expanded access to education and employment.

Organisers have also called for constitutional amendments allowing non-Muslim citizens to qualify for the offices of president and prime minister. Whether every demand commands consensus is a matter for democratic debate. But the principle from which they proceed — that citizenship should not be graded according to faith — should not be controversial in a republic that continues to invoke Jinnah as its founding authority. The delay in a written NOC for the march deserves attention. Peaceful assembly is a right, not a favour.

The gap between Jinnah’s principle of equal citizenship and present realities cannot be ignored. It is especially troubling because these protections were articulated at the birth of Pakistan itself. Religious minorities continue to face mob violence, attacks on their places of worship, forced conversions and social and economic exclusion.

Laws intended to protect religion have at times been weaponised through false accusations, with consequences extending far beyond the courtroom. Even where the state guarantees equality, social prejudice and institutional barriers make that guarantee fragile in practice. National Minority Rights Day must be more than a ceremonial observance.

It should prompt the state to examine where law, policy and public culture continue to fall short of the standard articulated on Aug 11, 1947. Jinnah did not ask minorities to be grateful for protection; he described equal citizenship as a fundamental principle. Pakistan cannot honour that principle through speeches alone. It will honour it when every citizen, regardless of faith, can claim the same dignity, security and political belonging.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2026

SOCIAL GOSPEL VS EVANGELICALS

'They're not real pastors': As clergy run as Democrats, Republicans question their faith

(RNS) — 'It's a sign that they are really scared they're gonna lose this seat,' the Rev. Sarah Trone Garriott, a Lutheran pastor running for Congress in Iowa, said. She is part of a wave of religious figures running as Democrats for congressional seats.

Iowa Democratic congressional candidate the Rev. Sarah Trone Garriott speaks during a primary election night watch party for Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Bryon Houlgrave)

Jack Jenkins
August 4, 2026 

RNS


(RNS) — At last month’s Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, Joe Mitchell, a Republican running for U.S. Congress in the state’s second congressional district, jabbed at his Democratic opponent, state representative the Rev. Lindsay James, saying she “calls herself a pastor.” He then turned to the crowd of conservative evangelical pastors and coined a term he said applies to James, a Presbyterian minister, and other faith-forward Democratic candidates — namely, Lutheran minister the Rev. Sarah Trone Garriott, an Iowa state senator also running for another seat in Congress, and James Talarico, a state senator and Presbyterian seminarian running for U.S. Senate in Texas.

“I call them PINOS,” he said, explaining the term is an acronym for “Pastors in Name Only.”

“Because they’re not real pastors, right? They don’t profess the true gospel of Jesus Christ,” added Mitchell, who has attended an evangelical church in the past.

It’s the latest in a series of faith-focused attacks that have intensified amid an election cycle featuring a striking number of clergy campaigning as Democrats — and, in recent months, besting their challengers. At least 12 pastors, seminarians and former clergy have run for federal office as Democrats this year, and seven have already become the Democratic nominees as of Wednesday (Aug 6). Some are even competing against each other: In Iowa, James, who is ordained within the Presbyterian Church (USA), had to beat out another pastor, United Methodist minister the Rev. Clint Twedt-Ball, to win her primary.

At least seven current and former pastors, all evangelicals, have also launched campaigns for Congress as Republicans this year, but with less success. Of those seven, only three — Pastor Mark Harris, an incumbent in North Carolina’s 8th district; Pastor John Elleson, who is running in Illinois’ deep-blue 9th district; and Tim Walberg, an incumbent and former pastor in Michigan’s 5th district — ultimately became nominees.

Tensions are high in competitive races with clergy candidates, with Republican opponents sometimes even turning to allegations of blasphemy as they hope to capitalize on longstanding divisions within Christianity to eke out victories. That includes Garriott, whose race is rated by The Cook Political Report as one of only 18 “toss-up” House elections in the country; in addition to Mitchell’s “PINO” remarks, Republican officials have referred to Garriott as the “Wicked Witch of Woke.” House Speaker Mike Johnson has also joined other Republicans in accusing her of having “officiated a Satanist wedding,” even though the allegation appears dubious: while Garriott has spoken publicly about participating in a wedding for people who self-identified as Satanists in meetings with pastors, she could not have officiated the wedding, as she was a pastoral intern at the time, and the service itself was conducted using Christian Scripture and liturgy.

Texas state Rep. James Talarico speaks during a rally to protest against redistricting hearings at the Texas Capitol, July 24, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Republicans in Texas have also spent months railing against the religious beliefs of James Talarico, who has made faith a centerpiece of a U.S. Senate campaign under the slogan “Let’s flip some tables.” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has said he has “never seen anyone commit so much blasphemy against the word of God and the Bible” as Talarico, and insisted he believes the seminarian may end up “going to Hell.” Similarly, Ken Paxton, an evangelical Christian and Talarico’s opponent, has called Talarico’s views “antithetical to historical Christian views,” arguing they were “adopted from liberal theology” and are “literally the opposite of Christianity.”

Both Lindsay James and Garriott told RNS the attacks on their faith and ordination status are “disappointing” and doubled as an indictment of their broader faith communities.

James, who is seeking to lead a district that leans Republican but is seen as competitive this year, noted she worked as a chaplain on college campuses ministering to students and doing what she called “incredibly beautiful work.” The suggestion that she is somehow not a pastor, James said, is “not just disappointing for me” but also “disappointing for all pastors and Christians across the state.”

“These kinds of attacks speak more about who my opponent is, than who I am,” she said.

Garriott argued similarly. She said her background as a parish minister and hospital chaplain are important to her personally and inform her work as a lawmaker.

“I was walking into the worst moments of people’s lives multiple times through a shift,” Garriott said, referring to her time as a chaplain. “That’s helped me develop a courage to show up for folks, no matter who they are, no matter what they’re experiencing.”


(Photo by Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash/Creative Commons)

Garriott added that, if elected, she hopes to preach regularly, as she has while serving as a state senator and on the campaign trail. Despite her grueling schedule, she has even maintained an atypically time-consuming aspect of her sermon-writing: memorizing the Bible passage she plans to preach on verbatim, then reciting it from memory before launching into her sermon.

“These attacks really are, again, not just against me as a faith leader, but me as a Lutheran minister and the churches that I’ve served,” Garriott said. “People find it really offensive — it makes them upset.”
RELATED: Iowa pastor says running for office is a test of faith

She also argued that the line of attack suggests her opponents are desperate.


“It’s a sign that they are really scared they’re gonna lose this seat,” said Garriott, who, church leaders confirmed, remains a pastor in good standing within the ELCA’s Southeastern Iowa Synod.

Marie Griffith, a religion professor at Washington University in St. Louis and former director of the school’s John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics, told RNS she sees the Republican strategy as partly an example of run-of-the-mill partisan politics applied to candidates who happen to be clergy. But the nature of the attacks, she said, also points to a more than century-old divide between evangelicals who tend to be Republicans and a coalition of liberal mainliners and Black Protestants who tend to vote Democratic.

What’s more, evangelicals, whose pastors do not always attend seminary, have long showcased a “suspicion of education” and the “educated elite,” Griffith said. That skepticism could extend to figures such as James, Garriott and Talarico — all of whom have earned or are pursuing a Master of Divinity, as typically required by their denominations for ordination.

Iowa Democratic congressional candidate the Rev. Lindsay James speaks during a campaign event. (Video screen grab)

“It is plausible to many conservative evangelicals in the pews to say, ‘Mike Johnson is just as much a theological expert as some dude with a Ph.D. from Harvard Divinity School, or some liberal Christian institution,’” Griffith said.

Mitchell and other conservatives have pointed to their opponents’ support for LGBTQ+ rights — particularly transgender rights and votes in favor of various forms of gender-affirming care — as evidence of their insufficient faith. But that framing exposes another theological rift: In recent decades, many mainline Christian denominations distanced themselves from evangelical views on gender and sexuality by formally ordaining LGBTQ+ people, officiating same-sex marriages and affirming LGBTQ+ identities.

And recent election cycles have seen attacks on the faith of liberal-leaning Democratic clergy fall flat. When the Rev. Raphael Warnock, head of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, was running for U.S. Senate in Georgia in 2020, Republicans decried his claim of being a “pro-choice pastor,” with then-Rep. Doug Collins condemning the idea as a “lie from the bed of Hell.” But polls indicated that most Catholics in the state and slightly more than half of Georgia’s Protestants believed abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and Warnock ultimately won his Senate seat — a victory later touted by Democratic Party leaders as a model for securing more wins in the South.

Democrats, of course, have also challenged the faith of Republicans. Just last month, Warnock openly questioned the Christian beliefs of Mike Johnson, a Southern Baptist, spurring a brief meeting on Capitol Hill between the lawmakers where they discussed their different approaches to Christianity and the Bible.

Yet the intensity and frequency of Republican attacks on liberal pastors’ religious beliefs is unusual, and mirrors efforts to undermine the credibility of liberal-leaning clergy who have criticized President Donald Trump’s administration. When the Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, asked Trump during a sermon at the Washington National Cathedral on the president’s first full day in office to “have mercy” on immigrants and transgender people, he responded with a Truth Social post that referred to her as a “so-called Bishop.” The Department of Homeland Security has been similarly dismissive of clergy who have protested the president’s immigration policies, with agency officials once publicly mocking participants in an immigrant rights demonstration led by faith leaders as “imbecilic morons” who need to “get a job.”

Even so, another pastor is poised to attract more Republican attacks. On Tuesday, the Rev. Adam Hamilton, who leads the largest United Methodist church in the U.S., won the Democratic primary in his bid to become the next U.S. Senator from Kansas.

The Rev. Adam Hamilton, a Methodist mega-church pastor from Kansas, talks to voters as he wraps up a U.S. Senate listening tour on Saturday, April 18, 2026, at Limitless Brewing in Lenexa, Kansas. (AP Photo/Heather Hollingsworth)

Winning a statewide election as a Democrat in Kansas is an uphill battle, but Hamilton is already breaking fundraising records, won the endorsement of the Kansas City Star in the primary and has been drawing attention from conservatives. Last month, right wing outlet Breitbart News referred to Hamilton’s denomination as “radically leftist” and wrote critically of the pastor’s suggestion in a sermon that the Bible contains errors — an idea that, while rejected by many evangelicals, has been embraced by many mainline Christians for more than a century.

For Griffith, the attacks highlight a “core disagreement on what, fundamentally, Christianity stands for.” And if Democratic clergy and other other faith-forward candidates do well in November, she said, it could destabilize a religious coalition conservatives spent decades building into a political power bloc.

“Republicans feel that they have had the religious upper hand for so long, that it’s pretty threatening to see someone like Talarico or any of these figures (running for office),” Griffith said.

But a spiritual shift of sorts may already be at hand. The Rev. Frederick Haynes III, a prominent Baptist pastor in Texas, has already won the Democratic primary for Texas’ 30th deeply blue congressional district, making it highly likely that he will be sworn in as a member of Congress next year. He told RNS he sees the success of Democratic clergy at the polls this year as a testament to their “track record of community service” and “fighting for the people.”

“There is almost an appreciative wave for the service that has been rendered that causes the people to rise up and say, ‘We want you to serve as our representative because you have served us while not being a quote-unquote public servant or politician, but you’ve done the work of public service,’” Haynes said.

Adelle M. Banks contributed to this report.

This piece has been updated to note that additional pastors, including Rev. Adam Hamilton, became nominees after winning primaries held on Tuesday, Aug 5.

Booted from evangelicalism, a progressive, ‘post-evangelical’ church blooms in Texas

AUSTIN, Texas (RNS) — Led by Zach Lambert, Restore church is part of a small but growing countertrend.

Ushers Carla and Stuart Hays welcome attendees to Restore Austin in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, June 7, 2026. (RNS photo/Angela Wang)

Kathryn Post
July 28, 2026

RNS


AUSTIN, Texas (RNS) — When Mariah and Michaela Montgomery-Lindsay moved more than 150 miles from Houston to Austin with three cats and two dogs in tow, it wasn’t for a job or family, but for church.

“I was just aching for a community of people who understood this transitionary pain that I was experiencing in my life, and this deconstruction that I was going through,” Mariah said.

She and her now-wife, Michaela, had been watching Sunday services of the Austin church, Restore, on YouTube for years. After growing up in a charismatic church and suppressing her gay identity for most of her life, Restore Austin, which offers a rare blend of progressive theology and evangelical expression, was the first church Mariah encountered that understood her exit from evangelicalism and was LGBTQ-affirming. After learning about Restore’s LGBTQ social group, the couple wanted in.

In early 2024, they arrived in the parking lot of the middle school where Restore meets each Sunday. That first visit, Mariah recalled, was a “visceral experience.”

“I think I cried the first 30 minutes of that service,” Mariah said. “I felt so safe to be completely myself.”

That safety wasn’t signaled by pride flags or priests in rainbow vestments, but unquestioned acceptance. It’s a congregation that will cheer as gay couples share news of their engagements, and each Sunday, a message flashing across the screen declares, “WELCOME to a community that celebrates differences and diversity.”

“People greeted us like a normal couple,” Mariah said.

Lead pastor Zach Lambert invites attendees to share personal good news from the week on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Restore Austin in Austin, Texas. (RNS photo/Angela Wang)

Many of Restore’s roughly 1,200 members are religious exiles who’ve left conservative evangelical churches — often citing an emphasis on Christian nationalism. They’ve come to Restore looking for a church that both worships Jesus as a savior and follows what they describe as his model of radical love. They’re hoping they don’t have to give up their jeans, church coffee and worship music to find it.

“I bet we’re still 90% people who have had bad church experiences,” said Zach Lambert, lead pastor and founder of Restore. “More and more people, I think, have seen a need for a church like ours to be an alternative to Christian nationalist, right-wing churches.”

More and more people, I think, have seen a need for a church like ours to be an alternative to Christian nationalist, right-wing churches.Zach Lambert

As Restore continues to grow, it’s become emblematic of a small but significant countertrend in America’s religious landscape. While white evangelicals remain among President Donald’s Trump’s most stalwart supporters, a recent poll found that nearly half of Gen Z agreed that Christians’ support of Trump has made them less likely to go to church. And young women and LGBTQ Americans are increasingly likely to claim no religious identity.

Restore, and other post-evangelical churches like it, have become a home for Christians who reject the MAGA movement while refusing to discard their faith. While politically and theologically more aligned with liberal mainline denominations, these churches retain the evangelical aesthetics so familiar and cherished by the exvangelicals in their pews — especially the music style — even as they insist racial justice, gender equality and LGBTQ inclusion are necessary outcomes of the gospel.

Lead pastor Zach Lambert leads the congregation in prayer during communion on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Restore Austin in Austin, Texas. (RNS photo/Angela Wang)
Church origins

As a young person, Lambert’s faith was formed by two Southern Baptist megachurches; the one in Austin where he was raised, and later, Prestonwood Baptist Church, a 40,000-member Texas Southern Baptist congregation where he interned for two years. Both were the kind of church many of his now-congregants have fled.

At Prestonwood, he recalled, he was groomed to become a megachurch pastor. But his illusions about ministry quickly evaporated. He described leaders who demanded unquestioning loyalty, teachings that demeaned women and a church culture preoccupied with public image.

“By the end of it, I was really done,” Lambert said. “I quit, thinking I was probably never going to be in ministry again.”

Soon after, though, Lambert connected with evangelical churches that seemed more receptive to some of the progressive values he’d gradually embraced. In 2016, he and a launch team planted Restore. It was part of the Evangelical Free Church of America, but allowed women leaders, invited LGBTQ people to lead and marry, and was designed for people escaping negative church experiences yet yearning for a faith community. Austin, a longtime Democratic outpost in Texas, seemed like the ideal place.

But like many evangelical churches, most congregations in the Evangelical Free Church of America believe the Bible teaches that only men should be pastors and that marriage should be between a man and a woman. When Restore baptized a lesbian couple in its first year, Lambert said, local churches organized to remove Restore from the denomination. In 2019, they were successful.

“Our church was kicked out,” Lambert said. “I was put on trial and my ministry license was revoked.”

After being unaffiliated for several years, Restore last year joined the United Methodist Church, an LGBTQ-affirming mainline denomination on the other end of the religious spectrum.

Care pastor Mark Jordan greets congregants on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Restore Austin in Austin, Texas. (RNS photo/Angela Wang)
The ‘magic combination’

In many ways, Restore’s backstory — formed in an evangelical context, then forced out of it — mirrors that of many attendees. And it’s what made it the perfect fit for Eric McDermid, a 43-year-old retired data scientist. After years at an Austin megachurch, McDermid left when he saw widespread support for Trump and what he viewed as selective application of Scripture.

The comfortable, contemporary, laid-back setting, but these kinds of beliefs … that was the magic combination for us.Eric McDermid

McDermid and his wife tried out some mainline churches, but they missed some aspects of the megachurch model — especially how it welcomes newcomers with clear signs, coffee and a simple worship format. At Restore, he found those elements, plus a progressive faith.

“The comfortable, contemporary, laid-back setting, but these kinds of beliefs … that was the magic combination for us,” said McDermid, who now serves on Restore’s leadership team.

The church’s history has also made it more attuned to members’ religious baggage. Mark Jordan, Restore’s care pastor, is a veteran and trained hospital chaplain, and no stranger to trauma. He’s often the first to greet newcomers at the door, and, with kind eyes and a warm smile, he makes it his mission to exude a “non-anxious presence.”


“A lot of people, when they come in, especially those of the LGBTQ community, the question that they ask me is, ‘Is this a safe space?’” Jordan said. “What I look forward to is not only connecting with people, but being a part of a safe, inclusive community. That is the work of Jesus.”

Scripture has often been weaponized against church members, especially the roughly 33% who are LGBTQ, Lambert said. Because many members struggle with reading the Bible and don’t carry it to church, Bible passages are displayed on the screen. When they contain something potentially upsetting — such as portions commonly known as LGBTQ clobber passages — it’s normal for speakers to give a warning.

Sermons focus less on requiring certainty, and more on adding context and inviting reflection. Communion is open to everyone, including those with doubts.

“Come to this table, you who have much faith and you who would like to have more … you who have tried to follow Jesus and you who have failed,” Lambert says each week.

Miriam Ritchie and Nicolle Truett pray together during worship at Restore Austin in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, June 7, 2026. The newly engaged couple were introduced at church by Ritchie’s uncle, a fellow member of Restore. (Angela Wang)

For Nicolle Truett, it wasn’t easy to settle into Restore’s culture of unconditional welcome. Raised as a missionary kid in the Foursquare Church, she later left the Pentecostal denomination, saying she was removed from her job there soon after she reported abuse. Though her experience left her feeling “angry and cynical” when she first came to Restore, eventually, she said, the community compelled her to stay. She told RNS that people at Restore get what it’s like to be mistreated in a faith community they loved. But they’re also committed to avoiding the kind of us-vs-them, binary thinking they often found in those settings.

“There’s never an indication that we have what is right and everyone else has what is wrong,” she said. “Everybody here has a story of being excluded and abused and harmed, and still has a commitment to figure out how to do it better and how not to do this again to anybody else.”

Post-evangelical

By the time Restore was forced out of its first denomination in 2019, Lambert had gained a social media following for his online advocacy on topics like free lunch programs and LGBTQ rights.

“Bible verses condemning trans folks: 0; Bible verses about welcoming migrants: 33; Bible verses about advocating for peace: 429; Bible verses about loving God and others: 714; Bible verses about taking care of the poor: 2000+” Lambert wrote in one viral post.

Though his outspoken views have earned him many critics who accuse him of partisanship and heresy, his online reach is part of what connected him and Restore to a larger movement.

Lambert began to discover pastors with similar stories, including Mike Goldsworthy, who led a church in Long Beach, California. In October 2021, Goldsworthy convened roughly 100 likeminded pastors who led congregations with evangelical ties but who believed evangelicalism had been co-opted by the MAGA movement.

Attendees participate in worship service on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Restore Austin in Austin, Texas. (RNS photo/Angela Wang)

Out of that initial convening, Lambert, Goldsworthy and Keri Ladouceur co-founded the Post-Evangelical Collective, now a network of over 150 churches connected by shared values, regional bodies and a national conference that, Ladouceur said, has grown roughly 25% each year.

“Many had been exiled from their previous denominational affiliation, many had been really lonely and kind of wondering, you know, ‘Am I the only one?’” said Ladouceur, who is based in Raleigh, North Carolina and serves as executive director of the collective. “There was such a sense of validation and permission and shared imagination to rethink, what does it mean to be the church in this time, beyond Christian nationalism?”

Christian ethicist David Gushee, who serves on the collective’s wisdom board, said while Lambert’s public platform has only grown since co-founding the collective — he has 56K X followers and is the bestselling author of “Better Ways to Read the Bible” — Lambert sees himself first as a local pastor. That, Gushee said, has helped kept the collective “church-oriented.”

Everybody here has a story of being excluded and abused and harmed, and still has a commitment to figure out how to do it better and how not to do this again to anybody else.Nicolle Truett

“There’s a way to be post-evangelical that is mainly about opposition to evangelicalism,” Gushee said. “Zach has had plenty of reasons to be angry and traumatized and against, but that’s not what he leads with. He leads with a constructive, winsome Christian vision that is focused on growing a church that can serve the legions of post-evangelicals who need community.”

Lately, Lambert and Restore’s leaders have been growing the church through their partnership with the United Methodist Church, a move that grants them more resources and support. It also merged with Memorial United Methodist Church, a 151-year-old congregation in East Austin, and is in the process of renovating and moving to Memorial’s 35,000-square-foot campus. The move will allow Restore to have a consistent worship space for the first time in its 10-year history, and will provide a central hub for Restore’s justice work.

Attendees participate in worship service on Sunday, June 7, 2026, at Restore Austin in Austin, Texas. (RNS photo/Angela Wang)
A wedding

In the two years that they’ve been at Restore, Mariah and Michaela Montgomery-Lindsay have been part of the church’s evolution. After joining Restore’s LGBTQ social group, they saw a need for an LGBTQ group more focused on Bible study — so they formed one.

In May, they gathered in the hills outside of Austin, and surrounded by the new friends they’d moved to Austin to meet, Lambert married them.

“Your marriage brings great joy to the heart of God,” Lambert declared, “just as it does to mine and to the hearts of everyone here today.”



Congregants turn to the communion table at the center of the gym at Restore Austin in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, June 7, 2026. (RNS photo/Angela Wang)

This story was produced with funding from the Templeton Religion Trust.

 

The methodology of wickedness: Data reveals the most evil Disney villain

Copyright Walt Disney - Canva

By David Mouriquand

Published on 19/06/2026 - EURONEWS

The House of Mouse has given audiences some cracking scoundrels over the years. Some heinous, some nightmarish, and some deeply misunderstood. And one is especially irredeemable...

“The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture.”

Alfred Hitchcock wasn’t wrong when he offered these words of wisdom.

Heroes are great and all that, but a great antagonist makes a film.

From Hannibal Lecter to Lots-o-Huggin' Bear, via Anton Chigurh and the Joker, it’s plain to see that devious bastards are the ones that stand out.

Disney is no different in this respect. Beyond loveable protagonists and, let’s face facts, very creepy princes who need to learn that an erection is not consent, the House of Mouse has given audiences some cracking scoundrels. Some heinous. Some nightmarish. Some deeply misunderstood.

But which Disney villain is the most evil?

Everyone has their favourites in this respect – with the Euronews Culture team split between the devious Jafar in Aladdin and the business-savvy octopus queen of sass that is Ursula in The Little Mermaid.

However, the good folks at PixlParade have taken it upon themselves to take a data-driven approach to the question.

They have compiled a list of the most popular Disney villains, included some deep cuts, and stressed that their focus is on original Disney antagonists. So no Star Wars or Marvel characters.

The team then established point values to the crimes, violations and prejudices the characters are guilty of. For example, mass murder gets you 50 points; child abuse / cruelty adds 15 points to the rap sheet; and arson will cost an extra 8 points... The points were totalled to produce a final score and a ranking of the 50 most evil antagonists.

You can check out the full villain scoring rubric point values and their sub-divisions here.

The number one villain may surprise you...

Before we get to the top spot, we can tell you that Cruella de Vil ranks surprisingly low considering her crimes against animals (35th spot). Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ Evil Queen is also quite low (33), despite attempted murder, abuse of power and assault. As for Master Control Program in 1982’s Tron, it comes in at 19 with charges including attempted genocide / mass murder, psychological abuse, and theft.

Trust AI, they said... It'll be fine, they said...

Related

• Disney princesses: Study reveals the hidden health risks behind a happily ever after
• Why has Disney’s ‘Snow White’ remake been banned in Lebanon?

Now to the Top 10.

Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent comes in at 10 with a total of 241 points; the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise’s Captain Hector Barbossa and Captain Salazar are at 9 and 8 respectively (242 / 253); The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Oogie Boogie is in 7 with 271 points; Scar from The Lion King just misses the Top 5 with an already impressive 284 tally; Mulan’s Shan Yu makes n°5 (313); Gravity Falls’ Bill Cipher is a surprisingly high entry at 4 (375); the Horned King from the lesser-known 1985 film The Black Cauldron steals the bronze with three extra points and a total of 378; and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe’s Jadis the White Witch nabs the silver with 418 points...

Drumroll, please.

According to the analysis, the worst, most irredeemable, most evil Disney villain is... Judge Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Judge Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame Walt Disney

The religious fanatic and extreme xenophobe led a crusade of “moral cleansing” and earned the highest score of 425 among the Disney villains.

He is guilty of... Deep breath... Murder, genocide / mass murder, attempted genocide / mass murder, attempted child murder, attempted murder, assisting / ordering / conspiring murder, attempted domination, mass indoctrination / enslavement, attempted forced marriage, war crimes, child abuse / cruelty, terrorism, torture, tyranny, abuse of power, unlawful imprisonment, exploitation, kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, psychological abuse, psychological torture, stalking, animal cruelty, assault, hate crimes, mass arson, vandalism, mass property / environmental damage, deception / cheating / fraud, slander, treason / betrayal, harassment, sexual harassment, aaaaaaaaaaand conspiracy.

How does he find the time?? And good luck to any lawyer representing him. Not even Atticus Finch could get him off - especially when you recall his teaching methods with Quasimodo during that alphabet recital scene.

A is for Abomination. B is for Blasphemy. C is for Contrition. D is for Damnation. E is for Eternal damnation...

What do you think? Is Judge Frollo worthy of most evil Disney villain, or was another cheated of the top spot?

Just don't say Captain Hook. If ever there was a misunderstood "villain", it's the Captain of the Jolly Roger. How would you feel if some arrogant flying twink who kidnaps children chopped off your hand and fed the limb to a crocodile??

#JusticeForCap.