Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
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A group of five Republican senators has banded together in an effort to help the long-beleaguered Christians of Nigeria, who face a now-incessant threat of death and harm at the hands of Islamic extremists.
Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri, Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Braun of Indiana, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma have sent a letter demanding Secretary of State Antony Blinken reinstate Nigeria’s status as a Country of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act.
Blinken removed this status last December, then doubled down in the June release of the 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom.
“The Secretary of State determined that Nigeria did not meet the criteria to be designated as a Country of Particular Concern for engaging in or tolerating particularly severe violations of religious freedom or as a Special Watch List country for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998,” a sentence in the Nigeria report’s executive summary reads.
Nations that are designated as Countries of Particular Concern are those the Secretary of State identifies as having “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” Such nations are subject to sanctions from the U.S.
Nigeria has been listed under this designation dating to 2009, and Blinken had kept the nation under the same status until December 2021.
It strikes the eye as odd that Nigeria would have risen to the level of Country of Particular Concern in the years leading up to, but not including, a time when violence against Christians has peaked.
“Religious violence and intolerance directed toward Nigerian Christians has worsened in recent years,” the senators’ letter reads. “One report documented more than 4,650 cases of Nigerian Christians who were killed for their faith in 2021. Accordingly, Nigeria earns the dubious honor—for the second consecutive year—of being the deadliest country on earth for Christians.”
Blinken seems to have based his decision on the Nigerian government’s stated commitment to religious tolerance, but even within the Nigeria report, it is clearly stated that Nigerian law allows for Muslims to establish courts of sharia law.
Of equal importance, to both Blinken and the reader’s understanding of the new Nigerian designation, is that the State Department sent a contingent to Nigeria in November intending to inspire religious tolerance.
Blinken’s decision to remove Nigeria from the CPC list was likely influenced, at least partially, by a desire to claim a victory for U.S. foreign relations. Indeed, the Nigeria report contains a lengthy, self-congratulatory section in which U.S. diplomats are praised for partnering with the Nigerian government to create an environment of religious cohabitation.
“Embassy and consulate general officials continued to promote religious tolerance and interfaith relationship-building with a wide range of religious leaders and civil society organizations,” the report reads.
But, as pleased as the State Department might be with itself, the reality on the ground is anything but harmonious.
Nigerian Christians have been targeted extensively in the past year. Most notably, as reported by FISM, gunmen massacred more than 50 Nigerian Christians on June 5, Pentecost Sunday.
Additionally, a Christian woman was also stoned to death at a university after she posted on WhatsApp that “Jesus Christ is the greatest. He helped me pass my exams.” The belief, the senators wrote, is that this student’s expression of faith enraged Muslims at her university.
“We remain concerned that the Nigerian government is failing to protect the religious freedom and basic safety of its Christian citizens,” the senators wrote. “Furthermore, as this year’s annual reports from the bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and from your own Department make clear, Nigerian government authorities directly participate in the persecution of Christians, Muslims, and even non-theists, most notoriously through arrests and convictions under blasphemy laws.”
The senators initially contacted Blinken requesting an explanation in December but did not receive a satisfactory answer.
“Given the abysmal state of religious freedom in Nigeria, it is incumbent upon you to reverse last year’s decision and redesignate the country as a CPC,” the senators’ letter concludes. “The moment demands that you do so without delay.”