"A Pure Genocide": Extremist Persecution of Christians, June 2018

A Catholic priest at the Milk Grotto in Bethlehem (pictured) suffered minor injuries on June 1, when a man struck him with what appeared to be a knife.

• The majority of those 6,000 Christians massacred this year were "mostly children, women and the aged... What is happening in ... Nigeria is pure genocide and must be stopped immediately." — Christian Association of Nigeria.
• "There is no doubt that the sole purpose of these attacks is aimed at ethnic cleansing, land grabbing and forceful ejection of the Christian natives from their ancestral land and heritage." — Christian Association of Nigeria.
• "Realistically speaking, Christianity is on the brink of extinction in Nigeria. The ascendancy of Sharia ideology in Nigeria rings the death toll for the Nigerian Church." — Christian Association of Nigeria.
• "Just one in 400 Syrian refugees given asylum in the UK last year were Christians despite them being subjected to 'horrendous persecution.'" — Express, UK.

The Jihad on Nigerian Christians

In what the Christian Association of Nigeria called a "pure genocide," 238 more Christians were killed and churches desecrated by Muslims throughout the month of June. This brings the death toll of Christians to more than 6,000 between January and June of 2018 alone. According to a joint statement by the Christian Association, an umbrella group of various Christian denominations, "There is no doubt that the sole purpose of these attacks is aimed at ethnic cleansing, land grabbing and forceful ejection of the Christian natives from their ancestral land and heritage." In one of the attacks, "over 200 persons were brutally killed and our churches destroyed without any intervention from security agencies in spite of several distress calls made to them."

The majority of those 6,000 Christians massacred this year were "mostly children, women and the aged... What is happening in ... Nigeria is pure genocide and must be stopped immediately." The details of the murder of these thousands, though seldom reported, are often grisly; many were either hacked to death or beheaded with machetes; others were burned alive (including inside locked churches or homes); and women are often sexually assaulted or raped before being slaughtered.

These nonstop Islamic attacks are causing the Christian population of the West African nation to plummet — to the point of extinction by 2043, warned Bosun Emmanuel, the secretary of National Christian Elders Forum. On June 23 he was reported as saying that the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in Nigeria "is openly pursuing an anti-Christian agenda that has resulted in countless murders of Christians all over the nation and destruction of vulnerable Christian communities." Accordingly, "the Church has been weakened and unable to stand before its enemies. Realistically speaking, Christianity is on the brink of extinction in Nigeria. The ascendancy of Sharia ideology in Nigeria rings the death toll for the Nigerian Church."

Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches

Bosnia: Unknown persons set a Serbian Orthodox church on fire in the overwhelmingly Muslim majority town of Visoko. The arson attack occurred sometime in the early morning hours of Sunday, June 24. According to the report, "a majority of objects inside the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos — including icons and holy books — has been destroyed, along with a portion of the roof... [T]he main part of the altar has also been broken." That the church had only recently been "repaired over a period of two years" may be significant: According to the Conditions of Omar, which consists of discriminatory stipulations to which Christians must adhere in order to exist under Islamic rule, Christians are required "not to build a church in our city — nor a monastery, convent, or monk's cell in the surrounding areas — and not to repair those that fall in ruins or are in Muslim quarters."

Indonesia: Local Muslims forced the closure of another Christian church in Banjarmasin. "Muslims claimed that the approval given to the church by local authorities was not valid and should be cancelled," the report related. "As a result of the increased tension, the church has had to suspend services, leaving the 100-strong congregation without anywhere to meet." Indonesian law requires the signatures of at least 60 local, non-Christian — meaning Muslim — households before applications for Christian churches are accepted. Due to such requirements, another church that was established in 1995 in the same city has had to move its meeting location seven times. "Christians comprise at least 15% of the population of Indonesia and, until a generation ago, Christians and Muslims lived peaceably as equals," says the report. "However, Christians are now facing increasing discrimination and violence. There have been a number of attacks on churches, including the triple church suicide bombings carried out by members of the same family on Sunday 13 May 2018."

Pakistan: After months of local harassment — including being told "to remove every visible sign of Christianity from their church" — Christians were finally ordered to demolish their church because "Muslims are in the majority in...
 
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