A roulette of original photos of murdered Christians flashed on a screen to a crowd of over 50 people in a Values Action Team (VAT) meeting last week in the Capitol. Bishop Chipa Wilfred Anagbe and Father Remigius Ihyula, two ministers in Nigeria, poured their hearts out in dread and angst to a group of Americans, pleading for recognition and aid from the United States.
H.Res. 82 was introduced in the House in January but requires further activity to be implemented. The resolution calls for Nigeria to be designated as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for egregious violations of religious freedom, thus allowing America to appoint a Special Envoy for Nigeria. Essentially, agreement on this resolution would be significant in addressing the massacre of Christians occurring daily across the pond.
Persecution in Nigeria has been happening for the past century. The majority of Northern Nigerians are of the Muslim faith, whereas the majority of Southern Nigerians are of the Christian faith, causing extreme friction in the region. The Quran contains over 100 passages calling Muslims to crusade on anyone with differing beliefs in the name of Allah, and those with “differing beliefs” live but a few hundred miles away.
Muslim extremists have ambushed Christians all throughout the country, attacking their churches, houses, and villages and taking innocent lives. The attacks are cold-blooded and barbaric, leaving many believers scarred and petrified. The attacks have grown increasingly worse over the past few decades A recent article notes that over 50,000 Christians have been murdered in Nigeria over the past 14 years, yet there is a chilling silence about this genocide.
The Nigerian government has failed to report several of the murders and also has failed to make any effort to stop the genocide. An Anglican bishop at a mass funeral claimed, “The government is fully in support of the bloodshed in Nigeria. We are being killed just because we are not Muslim.” Clearly, the government in Nigeria is in no rush to put an end to the mass killings, which is why a number of Nigerian priests have traveled to America to spread the word and beg for assistance.
New reports have noted that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world, striking uneasiness and terror in Nigerian Christians, knowing that this issue is only getting worse. A speaker at the VAT event noted that 89% of all Christian murders worldwide involve Nigerian people, making Nigeria the scariest country for Christians to live.
Most people that hear about religious persecution tag countries such as North Korea as the main instigators, but Nigeria is often overlooked. There needs to be more consciousness of these horrid crimes, and Americans need to act in prayer and raise awareness.
A Family Research Council intern, Campbell Alexander, spoke with The Washington Stand after the event. “I went into the meeting thinking it was going to be a political appointment talking about policy, and I left with conviction that drove me to my knees in prayer.” Another intern, Alaina Cothran, followed up, “Why do we grumble about anything ever here? We have the freedom to practice and carry out our love for the Lord here in the United States of America.”
The two were soberly reminded of the tremendous blessing of freedom of religion in America. They both agreed that after hearing about the reality in Nigeria, they felt compelled to fervently pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ facing persecution. “It made me want to be a voice for the voiceless and play my part here,” Alexander concluded.
