America’s leaders throw Nigerian Christians to wolves

Imagine knowing that the very act of going to a religious service would likely result in violence and death. In Nigeria, churches have been sent warning letters instructing them to shut down or face “ferocious” attacks.

And just before Thanksgiving, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to visit Nigeria, the country was cruelly and infuriatingly delisted from the roster of Countries of Particular Concern for Religious Freedom by the U.S. State Department.

Christians in Nigeria rightfully feel abandoned by the United States. In a distressing new video released by the Religious Freedom Institute, Bishop Stephen Dami Mamza of Northeast Nigeria says Christians are disheartened by the perplexing move and fear an upswing in anti-Christian violence.

In 2014, much of Bishop Mamza’s diocese was devastated by Boko Haram marauders. As the region was occupied by the Islamist terrorist group, members of his flock fled. Some of them were able to go back in 2016, but there and farms had all been destroyed. Mamza says he is hardpressed to find a family that has not lost someone to that murderous violence — he lost his elder brother, cousins and uncles. He says people are traumatized and remain surrounded by people who hate them.

The religious-freedom designation exists for countries where there are “systematic, ongoing egregious violations of religious freedom, among other cruelties to the human person because of religion. The bipartisan United States Commission on Religious Freedom immediately said it was appalled by the move. The USCRF exists in part to advise the U.S. government about the list, and the State Department ignored its recommendation to keep Nigeria on the list.

“How is Nigeria different than the Nigeria of two years ago?” Mamza asks. “The persecution here is more intense now than ever.” He asks the State Department to explain what data it used, because it’s not reflective of the facts on the ground. He is saddened that the Biden administration didn’t talk to Christians in Nigeria before making its move.

Eric Patterson of the Religious Freedom Institute also warns against explaining away the violence in Nigeria as something other than religious. Listen to the perpetrators, he says — they say their motivation is religious — they want Christians dead.

The Religious Freedom Institute recently held a virtual panel that should embarrass all Americans. It was called “America’s Indifference to the Plight of Nigerian Christians: A Conversation about U.S. Policy.”

“There are a set of overlapping catastrophes happening in Nigeria,” Patterson said. “For more than a decade, Boko Haram, Islamic State of West Africa and criminal and terrorist organizations have murdered 90,000 of their fellow citizens — their fellow Sunni Muslims, the Shia minority and Christians.”

The U.S. ambassador to Nigeria has dismissed concerns about the violence against Christians. During the Religious Freedom panel, Nina Shea from the Hudson Institute pointed out that we are watching “a growing spreading, bloodied disintegration of northern Nigeria.” If it continues unabated, it will destabilize and radicalize the country, and “create incalculable human misery.”

“This is a U.S. national security threat,” Shea says, “that the United States is completely missing.” She says the delisting of Nigeria is a “betrayal” for what we stand for as a country.

Remember these people this Christmas. You can watch a short video on the the Religious Freedom Institute YouTube page. Look in the faces of people we have abandoned and witness the courage of Bishop Mamza. Keep an eye on what is happening and educate people to create moral pressure for our government to undo this injustice.