We’ve heard endless claims by the propaganda press and campus “protesters” that Islamic terrorists are oppressed, and “white” Christians are the oppressors. For example, recall how New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani famously suggested that the real victims of 9/11 are New York City’s Muslims because his “Auntie” felt like people looked at her funny while she wore her hijab on the train.
Such fig-leafed fables can never cover up the horrific realities on the ground. Islamic jihadists’ intolerance for any coexistence with Christianity and Western values of civil society becomes starker every day. Most recently, we’ve had to grapple with the ISIS-inspired attack on Bondi Beach in Australia and the probable funding of Somali terrorists by unwitting Minnesota taxpayers. Their terrorist attacks are more numerous than ever before.
So, unquestionably, the oppressors are jihadists whose outspoken hate for Jews and Christians too often leads them to kill without mercy. The best evidence of this today is the case of Nigeria. For too long, the corporate press has been silent about — and even denied — the constant slaughter of Christians by Islamic terrorists in Nigeria.
Breaking the Silence
Until recently, you were expected to know nothing about the heinous acts committed daily against Christians worldwide, particularly in Nigeria. We were supposed to stay ignorant about the beheadings of priests in Nigeria, the destruction of 19,000 churches there, the machete hackings and live burnings of Christians there, the killings of about 8,000 Christians so far this year, and some 135,000 since 2009 in Nigeria alone. We were supposed to know zero about the persecution of Christians, even though they are overwhelmingly the most targeted of any religious group in the world by a large and growing margin.
Most of the perpetrators of Christian persecution in the modern world fall under two categories: communist governments such as those in North Korea and China; and Islamic jihadism, such as practiced by Boko Haram or Fulani militants in Nigeria, or the Taliban in Afghanistan, all of whom are intent on coercively imposing sharia law. This state of affairs was the central theme of “Persecuted and Prevailing: Addressing Christian Persecution in the Modern World” a recent livestreamed panel event at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.
If not checked through intervention, their violence will continue to spread to the point where Sharia law will be at our doorstep, as Brad Brandon recently noted. He pointed out that Nigerian Christians live in a constant state of fear, not knowing when the next surprise attack will happen, as occurred in June in Yelewata, where 260 were massacred.
The Armenian Parallel
As the granddaughter of Armenian genocide survivors, I have a deep personal interest in the growing persecution of Christians today. The Armenian genocide of 1915 to 1923 illustrates how these things play out.
First, there are often denials and media blackouts when obvious genocides occur. This was definitely the case with the Armenian massacres, denied not only by the Ottoman government perpetrators but by nations, corporations, and lobbyists with special interests, just as is happening in the case of Nigeria today. Denials are propped up by media propaganda.
My grandfather’s memoirs reflect the silence of the world when he and his brethren were forced out of their ancestral homes onto a death march. Report after report of the Armenian genocide – including those by former President Theodore Roosevelt, who advocated for intervention, and Ambassador Henry Morgenthau – were essentially ignored by the world.
Second, the method of extermination by attrition is typical. Those who claim that the situation in Nigeria is simply a “farmer-herder” or tribal conflict should take an honest look at the deportations of Armenians during that genocide. Armenian Christians were specifically targeted for who they were, just as Nigerian Christians are targeted today. The goal was to wipe out every Armenian and to erase their history. Armenians were ordered into caravans that took them into the Syrian desert, where they were condemned to die of butchery, starvation, thirst, and countless other tortures.
The methods used by the persecutors of Christians in Nigeria might seem somewhat different from those of the Armenian genocide, but the result is the same and systematic. As far as the scale is concerned, I believe the Islamic perpetrators are actually just getting started in Nigeria.
Aside from continuous mass killings, kidnappings of Christians in Nigeria with ransom demands serve a similar purpose that the mass forced deportations did for the Armenians. Nigerian Christians sell off their land in hopes of getting their family members back. Even if released, they are all impoverished with nowhere to go except displacement camps, where conditions tend to be deathly filthy and disease-ridden. This same old story plays out wherever and whenever Islamic jihadists get the chance.
Third, the government can plead plausible deniability when apparent third parties do much of the killing. Just as the Ottoman government promoted the killings of Armenians through “chetes” – irregular bands of armed terrorists – so the Nigerian government can try to claim a degree of separation from the terrorist bands of Boko Haram, ISIS, and Fulani militias.
Trump Calls Out the Atrocities in Nigeria
Thankfully, the ongoing genocide of Christians in Nigeria has gotten more media attention since October 31, when President Donald Trump called out the atrocities there and designated Nigeria a nation “of particular concern,” the highest global ranking for violations of religious freedom. Some members of Congress have also drawn attention to the tragedy, including Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind.
Also, as Brad Brandon has pointed out, it helped that famous comedian Bill Maher called out media silence about the genocide, even before the designation. And celebrity rapper Nicki Minaj— with over 25 million followers on X — is also playing a large role in decrying the attacks.
However, in the wake of Trump’s announcement, we heard even louder denials of Christian persecution in Nigeria. One egregious example was Tucker Carlson interviewing supposed human rights lawyer Robert Amsterdam and allowing him to deny the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
Judd Saul of Equipping the Persecuted responded that Amsterdam is serving as a “paid mercenary” of the Nigerian government. He isn’t working on the ground, witnessing the mayhem, or counting the bodies as Saul’s organization does. Saul also warned that without intervention before Christmas, we can expect to see a bloodbath of Nigerian Christians at Christmas.
‘If Nigeria Falls, So Does the Rest of Africa‘
Judd Saul is an especially noteworthy voice who reminds us that Nigeria is the epicenter of the fight for jihadist control and the imposition of sharia law over all of Africa. He advocates for a “masculine Christianity” that helps “defend our brothers and sisters” under threat by helping their communities prepare to resist attacks.
Saul says his efforts have earned great trust among concerned Nigerians. Many are now willing to provide intelligence about impending attacks. This intelligence has turned out to be 89 percent accurate, according to Saul, “but Nigerian police and government do nothing after being notified of impending attacks.”
Saul also cuts through the lies and propaganda with the website truthnigeria.com which provides coverage of everything happening on the ground there — none of which you’d hear in the propaganda press. To get a full picture of Saul’s amazing work, listen to popular podcaster Zuby interview him here.
Every person of goodwill should speak up about the skyrocketing of Christian persecutions and massacres in the modern world today, beginning with Nigeria. Let’s drop the ridiculous woke “oppressed-oppressor” canard. As Saul suggested to Zuby: “Let’s just be human for a moment and agree that the killing of innocent people is wrong.” Indeed, if you can’t do that, you’re complicit.
