NIGERIA EMERGENCY

 

Nigeria's "kidnapping factory"

 from jihadism to mafia crime

Attacks on Christian churches and schools

 and kidnapping of teachers and students

Hundreds of "missing" students

Schools closed to avoid risk

UMEC-WUCT stands with its Colleagues in Nigeria and wishes an end to All Violent Acts

The federal government has failed to respond first to Boko Haram's actions, the persecution of believers, and now to the gangs. And only yesterday did the president declare a "national emergency" due to kidnappings.

 

-         by GIULIO ALBANESE

-          The current Nigerian landscape is characterized by a highly complex and stratified geography of violence, a heterogeneous set of dynamics that defies reductive interpretations and sensationalist media narratives. Among the most significant manifestations of this complexity is the phenomenon of kidnapping, which has evolved over the past two decades into a form of parallel economy and, simultaneously, a symbolic and operational device of power. Analyzing the transformations underway in West Africa's largest country means recognizing the inadequacy of an interpretative approach limited to jihadism: kidnapping today constitutes a tool adopted by a variety of actors, situated within interconnected social, political, and cultural frameworks.

International media narratives often tend to associate kidnappings with the operations of extremist Islamist militias active in the northeast of the country, starting with the infamous Boko Haram and its offshoots. Undoubtedly, these armed groups use kidnappings as a weapon of terror, a source of funding, and a propaganda tool. Their incursions into villages in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa , as well as attacks on schools, have left an indelible mark on collective memory, fueling a widespread climate of fear and distrust of institutions. The 2014 Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping —which brought an already deeply rooted tragedy to the global stage—is just one of the most emblematic cases. The targeting, and to some extent continuing to target (given the movement's smaller reach), Christian communities responds to a logic parallel to "traditional" persecution, but is no longer the primary objective of their actions.

An anti-Christian perspective

Limiting ourselves to this perspective of deplorable anti-Christian activity (much more limited in the last five years but no less serious, as demonstrated by the kidnappings of numerous priests and pastors), however, would be to ignore a substantial part of the picture. In many regions of Nigeria, kidnappings are now perpetrated also—and sometimes primarily—by armed gangs lacking a religious ideology, motivated instead by a combination of social marginalization, structural poverty, systemic corruption, and competition for control of resources. Active primarily in the northwest, in the states of Kaduna, Zamfara , Katsina, Sokoto, and Niger, these organizations pursue no theocratic ambitions: rather, they build a predatory economy fueled by the security vacuum and the fragility of territorial control. The terrain on which these dynamics thrive is a long-term socioeconomic crisis, marked by extremely high levels of youth unemployment, inefficient public administration, and the misuse of the nation's immense wealth—oil, gas, coal, zinc, fertile lands—concentrated in the hands of a select few. In this context, kidnapping becomes a veritable market: farmers, traders, travelers, and students become commodities, kidnapped for ransoms that fuel a vicious cycle of violence and impunity. Furthermore, the line between organized crime and armed militancy is often blurred: tactical alliances, temporary collaborations, and the exchange of weapons and information make the borders extremely porous.

Anthropological and historical dimension of conflicts

A particularly relevant aspect concerns the anthropological and historical dimension of conflicts in Nigeria. The country, populated by approximately 230 million people, is an ethnic and cultural archipelago where competition for land and agricultural resources overlaps with tensions between pastoral and agrarian communities—often simplified as a clash between "Fulani" and "non-Fulani," when the reality is actually much more complex. In many of these areas, the proliferation of small arms and the weakening of traditional mediation structures have favored the transformation of local conflicts into systemic violence. At the root of the kidnappings lies a multifaceted system of insecurity, involving multiple actors. The government's response—varying between military repression and attempts at negotiation—has proven ineffective. And only yesterday, after more than 350 kidnappings in ten days, the president declared a national "security" emergency regarding the phenomenon.

Widespread corruption erodes public trust and delegitimizes any institutional intervention. Local communities, largely left to their own devices, develop autonomous forms of self-defense, giving rise to civilian militias that, though born for protective purposes, risk adding further levels of violence to an already extremely complex landscape. Ordinary people pay the highest price: broken families, traumatized children, communities forced to flee their homes. A young, vibrant, and energetic country finds itself living with the fear of travel, school, and the daily routine that elsewhere is taken for granted. Yet, despite the severity of the phenomenon, Nigeria cannot be defined solely by its wounds. It is also a place of extraordinary resilience, animated by community networks, civil organizations, religious authorities, and traditional figures who promote dialogue, reconciliation, and the protection of the most vulnerable. Christians first and foremost, especially in the central and southern states where attacks on priests continue, almost exclusively for extortion. Authentically narrating the phenomenon of kidnappings in Nigeria therefore means rejecting binaries—jihadists on one side, defenseless populations on the other—and acknowledging the coexistence of multiple Nigerias: that of globalized and dynamic metropolises, that of marginalized rural areas, that of young people seeking a future, and that of those who, deprived of alternatives, are sucked into the market of violence. Only by recognizing this complexity is it possible to grasp the true drama of a country that demands to be heard and understood before being overwhelmed by judgments and reactions.

www.avvenire.it

 

GROWING ANTI-CHRISTIAN HATRED

Anti-Christian

 hatred is growing

 

Worrying numbers released by the Observatory on Intolerance and Anti-Christian 

Discrimination in Europe.

Exponential increase in anti-Christian attacks .

Hate crimes on the rise

The OIDAC report 2022 / 2023 | OIDAC

 

-         by Andrea Gagliarducci

-          

In 2022, hate crimes against Christians reached 748 documented cases, a 44 percent increase compared to 2021, when 519 hate crimes were recorded. Cases of arson against churches are also increasing exponentially, recording an increase of 75 percent between 2021 and 2022. These are the data from the Annual Report of the Observatory for Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe.

Based in Vienna, directed this year by Anja Hoffman, the observatory provides a powerful and real snapshot of the situation of Christians in Europe. Every week, it collects news of incidents of discrimination and intolerance, using open sources, and highlighting a reality that is plain for all to see, yet little known. Christians are, in the end, the most persecuted religion in the world, as the various reports on religious freedom from Aid to the Church in Need or Open Doors say, and this is also confirmed by the data from the latest OSCE Annual Report on Hate Crimes , which documented 792 cases of anti-Christian hatred in 34 European countries.

The growth in arson cases is worrying, rising from 60 in 2021 to 105 in 2022, with an increase of 75 percent. These attacks are concentrated mainly in Germany, and then in France, Italy and the United Kingdom.

According to Anja Hoffman, hate crimes, especially vandalism, are linked to extremism which also results from a greater acceptance of church attacks in society. “While – says the director of the Observatory – the reasons for the acts of vandalism and the desecration of the Churches remained unclear, we now notice that more and more perpetrators leave messages that reveal belonging to extremist fringes and even proudly claim paternity of the crimes clerks. These are often radicalized members of groups that follow an anti-Christian narrative."

Regina Polak, OSCE representative for the fight against racism, xenophobia and discrimination, expressed concern about the ever-increasing number of cases of anti-Christian hatred reported by the Observatory, and underlined that "it is highly necessary to increase awareness of both the government that of society to face and combat this problem decisively."

The report also addresses the issue of different forms of religious discrimination. Over the past year, several Christians have lost their jobs, been suspended, or even faced criminal charges for expressing nonviolent religious views in public, particularly on the issues of marriage and family when it was stated in public that marriage is between man and woman and that sexual identity is made up of man and woman.

These are all opinions worthy of criminal proceedings, and it is a fact, said Hofmann, "highly serious", also because the legislations of the countries "use very vague language or unclear definitions of incitement to hatred".

The Observatory noted in particular the dismissals of teachers Ben Dybowski and Joshua Sutcliffe, as well as the Reverend Bernard Randall, a school chaplain. All dismissals occurred due to their beliefs about gender identity and family.

Anja Hoffman denounces that "silencing Christian voices in public undermines the plurality of Western democratic societies and makes free discourse impossible."
Other limitations on religious freedom come from the bills on the so-called "buffer zones" , which are found mainly in the United Kingdom and which criminalize prayer and religious demonstrations, such as prayer initiatives around criticism for abortion.

The Observatory described as “particularly surprising” the arrest of Isabel Vaughan- Spruce , who was arrested in one of the buffer zones and questioned whether she was praying in her mind. The arrest illustrates concern about the criminalization of “non-violent hate” incidents in the UK.

Other forms of discrimination include those that violate the right of parents to educate children in accordance with their religious beliefs and the limitation of freedom of conscience through the elimination of conscience clauses from existing provisions in medical laws.

 ACISTAMPA

 

THE UNNAMABLE VIOLENCE

Why the West is silent about the wave of desecration

Matthew Schmitz

When churches are desecrated, statues smashed and priests attacked, the once-Christian West doesn’t know how to respond

On July 14, parishioners of Saint-Budoc à Porspoder in France learned that a vandal or vandals had vomited in the parish’s holy water stoups and thrown a cross in the trash.

On July 26, paint was splashed on the faces and crotches of figures in the Valinhos Way of the Cross in Fatima, Portugal.

On July 28, three men entered the sacristy of a Catholic church in Szczecin, Poland, demanded vestments for use in a same-sex wedding, and beat the church’s pastor. Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki described the attack as an instance of the “ever more frequent attacks of hatred against believing people and priests”.

The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians, a non-profit organisation based in Vienna, reports that anti-Christian attacks and acts of vandalism are on the rise across Europe. In France alone, according to the French Interior Ministry, anti-Christian acts quadrupled between 2008 and 2019.

The rise in violence against Catholics has been strangely ignored and downplayed – not only by the media, but by Catholics themselves. Many Catholics are understandably reluctant to complain about what Pope Francis has called “polite persecution” when their brothers abroad are being beheaded by ISIS. Catholic leaders also rightly stress that they suffer less than some other religious groups – most notably Jews, who likewise face a surge in violence.

Other Catholics fear that drawing attention to these attacks will encourage the scapegoating of Muslims, despite the fact that most of these acts do not seem to be perpetrated by Muslims. Satanist symbols like “666” or slogans of sexual liberation are a recurring features of these attacks. These are not the symbols employed by ISIS.

These legitimate concerns have led to an unfortunate pattern of minimisation. “We adopt a reasonable attitude. We do not want to develop a discourse of persecution. We do not wish to complain … We are not victims of a ‘Cathophobia’,” Archbishop Georges Pontier, head of the French bishops’ conference, told Le Point magazine. “In its history, Judaism has fought an ongoing struggle against anti-Semitic groups. We Catholics in France now do not have to face such violence every day!”

Attempts to minimise anti-Catholic violence may be well-intentioned, but it is doubtful they are having the desired effect. As several scholars have noted, one of the main reasons Western elites overlook the persecution of Christians around the world is the fact that they perceive Christians as a privileged group. Highlighting the rise in violence against Christians in the West is the simplest way to challenge this assumption.

It also seems unhelpful to pit anti-Catholic violence against anti-Semitic violence, as if acknowledging the one required ignoring the other. Since the Second Vatican Council, Catholics have sought to stress what they have in common with the Jewish people. Today the two religions unhappily share the hatred of a society that resents the demands of religion, tradition, and community.

One of the goods that can be brought forth from attacks on Christianity is a heightened appreciation for what Catholics and Jews have in common. It is notable in this regard that Catholics have been attacked for a sexual ethic that they share with Jews. The disfiguring of the figures at Fatima is only one minor example. Sexual graffiti, disfigurings of the Blessed Virgin and other similar acts are commonplace in desecrations of Catholic churches.

One sign of how far we are from reckoning with anti-Christian acts is the fact that we have no generally agreed upon word to describe them. Acts of aggression against Islam and Judaism are instantly describable using widely understood terms. No such term exists for attacks on Christians. Various intellectuals and activists have suggested terms such as Cathophobic, Christianophobic, and Christophobic, but no suggestion has received wide acceptance. Our society has a kind of aphasia about acts of aggression against Christians. It is the violence that cannot be named.

Part of the problem lies in the sociologically unique position inhabited by Catholics in the West. Our liberal culture has a highly developed vocabulary for protecting minority rights. But there is no set of terms for describing violence against the faith that in many ways defined the West, and that remains the majority faith in many Western nations.

Given the unique constituting role Catholic Christianity has played in Western life, describing it as another subaltern faith will always be awkward. Even in Protestant nations, where Catholics have been an oppressed minority, Catholicism is widely identified with an oppressive past. As other religious bodies have cast off the formerly universal Christian opposition to contraception and abortion, Catholicism has stood firm. This makes it a symbol of tradition and authority even in societies that long ago shook off its authority.

One recent example of this occured at the height of the recent US debate over abortion laws. As heavily Protestant states such as Alabama and Georgia (77 per cent and 70 per cent Protestant, respectively) passed restrictions on abortion, the Catholic Church became a target of ire. On May 19, the doors of Notre Dame de Lourdes parish in the wealthy college town of Swarthmore, PA, were tagged with the words “You do not have the right to decide how others live, #ProChoice.”

Because the West was once defined by its acceptance of Catholicism and is now in many ways defined by its rejection of it, achieving an equal and neutral treatment for Catholicism is all but impossible. Western society looks on the Church as one might look on a former lover. Given their tangled history, the only future possibilities are resentful obsession or a revival of pass­ionate attachment. Nothing is more unlike­ly than the kind of casual relationship one might enjoy with a new acquaintance.

JHH Weiler, a Jewish legal scholar who defended Italy’s practice of displaying the crucifix in public buildings before the Eur­opean Court of Human Rights, has called on Europe to overcome its “Christophobia” by acknowledging its Christian identity. In a short book entitled A Christian Europe: An Exploratory Essay, Weiler described what such a Europe would look like: “It is a Europe that, while celebrating the noble heritage of Enlightenment humanism, also abandons its Christophobia and neither fears nor is embarrassed by the recognition that Christianity is one of the central elements in the evolution of its unique civilisation. It is, finally, a Europe that, in public discourse about its own past and future, recovers all the riches that can come from confronting one of its two principal intellectual and spiritual traditions.”

Benedict XVI issued a similar call in his 2011 message for the World Day of Peace. He lamented “hostility and prejudice against Christians” and urged Europe to “be reconciled to its own Christian roots”:

“I also express my hope that in the West, and especially in Europe, there will be an end to hostility and prejudice against Christians because they are resolved to orient their lives in a way consistent with the values and principles expressed in the Gospel. May Europe rather be reconciled to its own Christian roots, which are fundamental for understanding its past, present and future role in history; in this way it will come to experience justice, concord and peace by cultivating a sincere dialogue with all peoples.”

Confronting anti-Catholic acts requires a different sort of work than confronting violence against other faiths. The problem is not hatred of the other, but hatred of the self. It is a refusal of patrimony, an attempt to deny one’s own character. As Weiler and Benedict have both clearly seen, Christianity does not require the West’s tolerance; it demands its loyalty. Unless Europe realises that toleration of other religions does not justify denial of Europe’s own Christian identity, anti-Christian acts are likely to increase, while being studiously ignored by those who purport to deplore all prejudice.

Matthew Schmitz is senior editor of First Things

CATHOLIC HERALD