Punjab Governor Killed

Punjab Governor Taseer has been shot and killed by one of his bodyguards. Taseer was one of the most powerful of Pakistan's governors and his death will create political backlashes for the government.
Why was he shot?  The BBC reporters breaking the story say he was one of the few Pakistani politicians who stood up publicly in support of the Christian woman who has been sentenced to death for blasphemy.
Taseer said such laws have no place in the 21st century. The result? He was assasinated. The man who shot and killed him will apparently be hanged automatically under Pakistani law.
The wild west nature of the murder reminds me of another woman. She is Sakinah, the woman sentenced to be stoned to death in Iran for adultery. She has been tortured according to Iranian sources, after which she confessed to various parts of the government's charges, and later threatened to bring lawsuits against German reporters who had mentioned the possibility of torture. She awaits her fate in an Iranian prison while the Iranian "justice" system tries to decide what to do in light of the large international reaction.
Then, we have the Copts of Egypt, who were killed by a terrorist bomb in Alexandria while they were celebrating Christmas mass. They have since rioted in defense of their right to practice their religion. Egyptian Muslims have supported the Copts, but not the rioting.
All of these affairs have been attributed either to Al Qaida and the Taliban, or to Islamic law and custom.
And yet, as to Islamic law and custom, there are Muslim voices who protest and try to be advocates for change. But, Governor Taseer's violent death reminds us just how dangerous such a position can be for Muslims.
I do not believe that Islam is violent. But, it is hard to see the way forward in the near term. What can we of other faiths or customs do to help our brothers and sisters in Islam take control of their lives and their religious practices? Very little. It must come from them. Until the followers of Islam decide for themselves that enough is enough, we will have to watch act after act of vengeance and violence, against women, journalists, Christians, and anyone else daring to be the outsider in the political regimes in which intolerance and terror in the name of religion are used as a means of gaining and maintaining secular power.
What a sad beginning to 2011.