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One of the top Christian worldview stories of 2025 is the ongoing worsening situation for Christians in the nation of Nigeria.
Now, at the end of October, President Trump designated Nigeria a country of particular concern. He also called on members of Congress to offer recommendations about combating the persecution there. Also, the State Department put Nigeria back on its persecution watch list. Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened Nigerian officials with financial penalties, visa bans, and aid cuts if steps were not taken to curb anti-Christian violence and meet U.S. counterterrorism standards there.
And all of this, which happened at the end of what was the worst year on record for Christian persecution in Nigeria, came as an answer to prayers and an answer to actions that were taken. For example, I joined 32 faith leaders earlier this year in a letter to the president, which called for that special designation. President Trump even threatened intervention. and a post on social media saying, quote, I'm hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our cherished Christians, end quote.
Well the question now is whether or not the Nigerian government will indeed take meaningful steps to rein in the radical Islamic groups that are responsible for the increasing violence there. Since 2014, according to Open Doors USA, Nigeria has been the most dangerous nation in the world to be a Christian. And 2025 has been by far the worst year on record. Over 7,000 Nigerian Christians were killed in just the first seven months of 2025, a number twice that which was reported by Open Doors for 2024 and one which accounts for a staggering 80% of faith-related murders around the world. The violence in Nigeria is driven by jihadists from radical Islamic groups, Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province, and, especially since 2009, militant Fulani herdsmen.
Christians have been explicitly targeted with violence, including beheadings and church bombings. Millions have fled sub-Saharan Africa as religious refugees. The violence has led open doors to warn of an impending Islamization of the nation. The Nigerian government blames the violence on land disputes between herdsmen and farmers, and the Biden administration blamed the land disputes on climate change. These are ridiculous explanations and ignore the common elements of the conflict, namely that the persecutors are always Muslim and that the victims are always Christian.
And Western media has also largely ignored what is one of the most significant human rights crises of our day. But other voices have become louder and more clear. In a speech before the UN General Assembly on September 23, President Trump said to world leaders, quote, let us protect religious liberty, including for the most persecuted religion on the planet today, Christianity. Dr. Anthony Bradley asked in an ex-post earlier this year, where is the Free Nigeria campaign?
And why are the free Palestine protesters also not passionately protesting Muslims in Nigeria? Even about atheist and liberal Bill Maher recently questioned the lack of global interest about Nigeria on his show Real Time, saying, quote, there's so much more of a genocide attempt there than what is going on in Gaza. They're literally attempting to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country. And the corporate media isn't covering it because the Jews aren't involved. That's why.
14 years ago in his book, The Next Christendom, Philip Jenkins predicted that the center of global Christianity would move from the West to the global south, particularly Africa and Asia. He specifically identified Nigeria as a likely epicenter for the next Christendom due to the size of its Christian population. It's not coincidental that Nigeria is now at the epicenter of Muslim resistance and violence. Christians around the world have to continue to appeal to heaven on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Nigeria. We must pray that God would strengthen them, that the gospel would go forward, even impacting the hearts of those who are persecuting believers for their faith in Jesus Christ.
We also have to continue to ask our government leaders to increase the pressure on Nigerian government officials and demand their accountability. Their excuses and their inaction have enabled militants to operate with basic impunity and for the rest of the world to ignore the atrocities there for far too long. Each and every day, Breakpoint brings clarity to stories like these, stories that matter, while cultivating confidence in what is true. If Breakpoint has helped you and your family make sense of this cultural moment as a Christian, please make a yearing gift to keep it on the air. Right now, thanks to a generous $500,000 challenge, every single gift before the end of the year will have double the impact.
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