MONDAY MORNING REFLECTIONS: JUSTICE AND GENOCIDE

BY STEVE DUNN

The mainstream media has given us extensive coverage of the reprehensible mosque shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand a few weeks ago. And they should. It was a horrific event that the world should absolutely mourn such a senseless act of violence.

While the world expresses its outrage at still another murderous attack upon a place of worship and the targeting of people because of their religious faith, the mainstream media in the US has largely ignored what some have termed a "genocide" going on in Africa,

Church Militant reports (backed up by credible news sources around the world) these facts.

“At least 120 Nigerian Christians have been killed since early February in a string of violent attacks that are being attributed to Fulani militants.

On March 11 alone, a string of attacks left 53 dead and 143 homes destroyed in the villages of Inkirimi and Dogonnoma in the Kajuru Local Government Area in Kaduna State, Nigeria.

Just a day before that, an attack on the village of Ungwan Barde killed 17 people and destroyed dozens of homes. One month prior, about 16 people had been killed in Ungwan Barde village in a series of attacks on Feb. 9 and 10.

The governor of Kaduna State imposed a curfew last week on the local government area owing to the deadly outbreak of violence.

On Feb. 26, some 32 Nigerian Christians were killed in the Maro district of the Kaduna State. The attackers burned down an evangelical church and shot people fleeing. This violence was also suspected to be the work of Fulani militants.

Local lawmakers say the recent attacks have displaced at least 3,000 locals, with many people’s homes destroyed and many others fleeing for safety.

In Benue State, Fulani attacks on several villages on March 4 left 23 dead.

They explain that such acts of violence began about a year ago, and stem from longstanding tensions between the majority Muslim Fulani herdsman and the majority Christian farmers.

In 2017, the Nigerian government passed laws that would prevent the Fulani herdsman from allowing their livestock to graze on the farmer’s private property, hoping it would ease tensions between the opposing groups, but it only made things worse.

And now, hundreds of Christians are dead.”

And so I am compelled to ask, why is this being largely ignored by the press in this nation?  I am not someone who sees a conspiracy behind every troubling development. I am suspicious of the “Jesus’ teaching” ignoring that marks much of American Militant Christianity.  Nor am I a person who believes that such outrages by people from religious group against another (especially when it’s mine) is an excuse to demonize someone else’s faith or justify the same senseless, hateful violence on our part.

But this needs to be a matter if prayer.  It needs to be a matter that is brought clearly into the light.  It is a matter that our nation (and our press) need to take action against.

 And we need to remember that such religious hatred expressed against Christians occurs in all corners of the world.  In some nations like China, it is government sanctioned.

The prophet Hosea reminded us that working for justice is a command of our faith.  It applies to victims and the oppressed regardless of their faith.

More on the subject 200 CHRISTIANS ATTACKED

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