For the last two days, U.S. Catholics have been clicking for updates on Archbishop Vigano’s testimony against high-level prelates, including Pope Francis. As they should be.
Meanwhile, 6,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria this year at the hands of Fulani herdsmen.
How many of us know about their plight?
I published the first of a two-part series of blogs on this on Friday at the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops’ blog on religious freedom, God’s Servant First.
Here is a preview:
Sure, I had heard of Boko Haram, the infamous Muslim terrorist group in Northern Nigeria whose name means, “Western education is a sin,” but I had not known that since 2009, Boko Haram has destroyed over 200 churches, displaced nearly two million people, killed at least 20,000 people, created over 200,000 refugees, and kidnapped hundreds, including many women whom it has made sex slaves. While Boko Haram has attacked and killed both Muslims and Christians, Christians are disproportionately represented among these many victims, and, of course, explicitly targeted. In 2013, it is estimated, more Christians were killed as a result of persecution in Northern Nigeria than in the rest of the world combined. . . . Why is this so little known among Christians in the West?
And:
Much more recently and apart from Boko Haram operations, reports have revealed large death tolls of Christians at the hands of Muslim Fulani herdsmen in the states of Kaduna, Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, Kwara, Borno, and Zamfara. Since this past January, over 6,000 Christians, most them women, children, and elderly, have died in raids and other attacks. In 2015, there were 4,028 killings and 198 church attacks, nearly double those of the previous year. The attacks increased again in 2016 and continued into 2017.