Christians Were Murdered in Nigeria Again - No One Cares
Not Even Their Own Brethren in the Faith
Gunmen suspected to be Islamic Fulani herdsmen barged into a Catholic Church in southwestern Nigeria, opened fire and detonated explosives while the congregation was celebrating Mass on Pentecost Sunday, killing at least 50 worshipers, including women and children. It's feared that some Christians were also abducted after the attack.
Read more of the article here.
This is not an isolated incident. North Africa, Nigeria specifically, as well as the Middle East and China has been rife with Christian persecution for decades. Countries like Mauritania, Sudan and Libya have traded African slaves for centuries.
Why don’t we ever really hear about this?
When it comes to mainstream media and our elected leaders, the answer to that question should be obvious by now. It' is because these issues cannot be used a political cudgel for anyone’s advantage. That’s why police brutality seems to only be a national crisis during a presidential election season, or issues of mass shootings seem to only happen during congressional elections (what time is it right now?).
Yes, no one cares about what is happening to persecuted Christians globally because on the totem pole of things to feign concern for, Africans and Christians are at the bottom; and African Christians? Forget about it.
Again, that is the obvious answer when it comes to the world. But the church? Our reason is a little bit different. We don’t speak out because we either:
Don’t know.
Don’t care.
Whether the issue is the former or the latter, they both tend to be rooted in a very dangerous, self-centered, idolatrous doctrine that won’t allow for either issue to be reconciled. Dr. King addressed this over 60 years ago in his 1963 open letter to leaders in the faith based community. King says:
“…the Church has been an echo rather than a voice, a tail light behind the Supreme Court and other secular agencies, rather than a headlight guiding men progressively and decisively to higher levels of understanding.”
How has the Church been an echo in 2022? The Church was an echo when thousands of churches completely closed their doors in 2020 without any consideration of the effect it may have on its congregants and community. The Church was an echo when the world told us Russia vs. Ukraine is the most important thing to happen in our history, and churches all over the U.S. displayed the Ukrainian flag outside for all to see, but are silent on issues previously listed. This is not a commentary on Ukraine, but on our inability to get in front of issues and turn the world’s focus. We are often the ones getting jerked around.
It goes to show that the Church has exchanged its moral compass for a news station, its reliance on God with a reliance on news reporters, its moral courage with cowardice.
Aside from notable Christian organizations that have been fighting this fight for a long, long time, by and large, the Church is asleep while our brothers and sisters around the globe are watching their pastors tortured and butchered in front of them. The Church is asleep while radical Islamists are enslaving our young boys, and raping our women. The Church is asleep while our college students in Kenya are lined up and shot for not denouncing Jesus Christ. The Church started to wake up for two seconds for #BringBackOurGirls, but went back to sleep once the trend stopped, even though our girls were never brought back.
And yes, I say ‘we’ and ‘our,’ because the bible teaches us in Hebrews 13:3 to “remember those in prison and being mistreated, as if you were in prison with them and undergoing their torture yourselves.” They are us, and we are them. The attack on the Catholic church in Nigeria on Pentecost Sunday is certainly not first, nor will it be the last.
It is past due that the Church become a headlight; a pioneer for the liberation members of our faith around the world. It is past time for us to stop waiting for CNN to tell us what to think and how to speak out. It is past time for us to exemplify to the world what justice truly is.
Sadly, it seems that we will only collectively cry out when the persecution reaches us.
By then it will be too late.
Absolutely enraging that people won't pay attention to these horrors! Why doesn't the UN take up this up? What about college kids? They seem to have a lot of time to yell about nothing. Unbelievable.
Thanks for keeping us informed on this issue JoDavi.