“I mean the fact that this issue has not gotten on people’s radar, it’s pretty amazing. If you don’t know what’s going on in Nigeria, your media sources suck. You are in a bubble. And again, I’m not a Christian, but they are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria.”
— Bill Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” 2 weeks ago
So let’s ask. Is the systematic killing of Christians in Nigeria on your radar?
Allow us to provide some critical context…
- First, in regard to Nigeria, with more than 230 million people, not only is it the most populous country in Africa but also the world’s 6th most populous country.
- While there is no official state religion, the country is roughly half Christian and half Muslim. It is estimated, therefore, that there are somewhere near 109 million Christians in the country.
- While difficult to discern an accurate count due to the rurality of the attacks, tens of thousands of Christians have been killed in Nigeria since 2000, with many estimates over 100,000 people. The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law reports that at least 52,250 Christians have been killed in Nigeria over the past 14 years.
- The violence is not equal across the entire West African nation. Most of the violence takes place in the northern parts of Nigeria, which is home to more of the Muslim community. The larger Christian population lives more in the southern region of the country. The violence has begun to extend into some more southern, Christian-majority states.
- This is primarily a religious conflict, although it isn’t only religious. Christians are being targeted. They are being killed because of what they believe and Who they believe in.
- Nigerian government representatives have repeatedly denied that Christians are being singled out; however, the involved, self-proclaimed Islamic militant groups say otherwise. One of those primary groups, Boko Haram, has explicitly and repeatedly called for the elimination of Christianity in the country, ordering Christians to convert to Islam or be killed.
- Many secular journalists have portrayed the killings as merely “clashes” between farmers and herders, downplaying the religious nature of the conflict. Such results from the numerous farming communities that have been attacked In the Middle Belt of Nigeria. Note that the farmers are predominantly Christian, and they’ve been attacked by primarily Muslim herders, most who’ve become radicalized Fulani militants.
- Kidnapping has also become a serious problem, with more than 20,000 people abducted between 2019 and 2023. Christians have become specifically vulnerable targets.
- Just this past week, on the night of October 14th, 15 people were reported to be massacred by those Fulani terrorists.
Back to Maher for a moment…
“This is so much more of a genocide attempt than what is going on in Gaza; they are literally attempting to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country. Where are the kids protesting this?”
A few more thoughts…
First, what’s happening is horrible.
Next, we struggle with the word “genocide.” It’s very emotive. Also, according to international law, a situation has to meet very specific requirements to qualify as such, and that then triggers a responsibility for governments to take determined action against the violence. Such makes sense why a country may deny key elements of the conflict.
And finally, it leaves us with some very basic questions — specifically, one, what we most protest and why — and two, what keeps us from being aware.
Thinking out loud today…
AR