Tag: Boko Haram

The Jihadist Genocide of Christians in Nigeria Intensifies

Raymond Ibrahim – October 10, 2021

What several international observers have for years characterized as a “pure genocide” of Christians in Nigeria has reached new levels.

Since the Islamic insurgency began in earnest in July 2009 — first at the hands of Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist organization, and later by the Fulani, who are Muslim herdsmen also radicalized and motivated by jihadist ideology — more than 60,000 Christians have either been murdered or abducted during raids. The abducted Christians have never returned to their homes and their loved ones believe them to be dead. In addition, in the same time frame, approximately 20,000 churches and Christian schools have been torched and destroyed.

Some of these findings are documented in an August 4, 2021 report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, also known as “Intersociety,” a nonprofit human rights organization based in Nigeria.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org

3,462 Christians Murdered in Nigeria in 2021: It’s the ‘Biggest Killing Ground of Christians’ in the World

Michael Foust – July 23, 2021

More than 3,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria this year by Muslim militants amidst a massive wave of persecution that also has resulted in 300 churches being threatened, attacked or destroyed, according to a new report.

The report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law says 3,462 Christians have been killed by Muslim militants in the first half of 2021 – a shocking number that is nearly as many as the 3,530 killed in all of 2020.

International Christian Concern cited the report this week and urged the world to take notice.

“Nigeria is the biggest killing ground of Christians today, but few are aware of it,” ICC said in a July 19 news release.

The Fulani Herdsmen – described as the fourth deadliest terror group in the world by ICC – is responsible for the majority (1,909) of murders, the report says. Boko Haram, ISWAP and Muslim Fulani Bandits killed a total of 1,063 Christians, the report added.

“Christian farming villages are repeatedly attacked in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region, and tens of thousands have died over the last 20 years. In addition, hundreds of thousands of Christians have lost everything and are living as refugees,” ICC said.

The surviving victims often are not assisted or protected by the government from further harm, the report says.

“It is deeply saddening that till date those responsible for the anti-Christian butcheries in the country have continued to evade justice and remained unchecked, untracked, uninvestigated and untried; leading to impunity and repeat-atrocities,” the report says. “The surviving victims and families of the dead victims are also totally abandoned by the Government of Nigeria.”

An estimated 300 churches have been threatened, attacked, closed or destroyed this year, with at least 10 priests or pastors abducted or killed, the report said.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

Report: 5.2 Billion People Face ‘Very Severe Violations of Religious Freedom’

Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D. –  April 20,2021

Nearly one third of the world’s countries, where two thirds of the world’s population live, violate religious freedom, the pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reported Tuesday.

Christians are the most persecuted group in the world, according to ACN’s Religious Freedom in the World Report 2021, an 818-page compendium of the state of religious freedom and persecution in the world today.

Persecution on the grounds of religious belief is a growing global phenomenon, the biennial report declares, and religious freedom violations have accelerated and expanded to the point where “systematic and egregious attacks are coming from governments, lynching mobs, as well as international terror groups,” such as Boko Haram or the Islamic State.

The report found the populations of 62 countries out of a total of 196 face “very severe violations of religious freedom,” adding that the number of people living in these countries “is close to 5.2 billion, as the worst offenders include some of the most populous nations in the world (China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria).”

Moreover, during the past two years since the publication of ACN’s last report, “there has been a significant increase in the severity of religiously motivated persecution and oppression which is the principal category of concern,” the report noted.

https://www.breitbart.com

‘The Next Jihad’: Evangelical leader, rabbi warn about ‘Christian genocide’ in Africa

Samuel Smith – November – 17, 2020

The rise of violent extremist groups throughout Africa, as well as the constant attacks against Christian communities in the continent’s most populated country, has religious leaders fearful that “the next jihad” is underway as world leaders seem to be rushing to address the problem.

“I know one thing has never really changed: No one gives a damn about Africa except for their natural resources or if there is going to be a big party because there is a peace treaty being signed,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, director of the global social action agenda of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish human rights organization with over 400,000 family members.

“That’s just the truth and it’s a terrible truth. It might be one of the vestiges, frankly, of colonialism.”

Cooper teamed up with Rev. Johnnie Moore, a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, to author the new book The Next Jihad: Stop the Christian Genocide in Africa.

The book was written after the unlikely duo traveled together to Nigeria earlier this year to meet with dozens of Christian victims of terrorism from five different regions.

In recent years, Nigeria, the continent’s richest country, has dealt with the rise of Islamic terrorist groups in the northeast (Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province) and an increase of deadly attacks on farming communities carried out by militarized radicals from the Fulani herding community.

In the past few years, it’s been estimated that thousands of Christians have been killed while millions of Nigerians have been displaced from their communities. Some human rights groups have warned that attacks against Christian communities in Nigeria have reached the standard for genocide

https://www.christianpost.com