Nigerian Christians Warn of Campaign of "Religious Cleansing" Against Them

Most people, especially in the West, are unaware that religious persecution of Christians occurs on a regular basis.  If I wanted to I could produce at least 3 blog entries daily on legitimate cases of violence directed towards Christians around the world.

This entry comes not from V.O.M. but from Jihad Watch.

That is exactly what is going on. Boko Haram's ultimatum for Christians to leave northern areas has come and gone, and attacks have increased in frequency.

Boko Haram wants as wide a civil war as it can instigate, and thus a freer hand to push its agenda through slaughter. It wants to create a security vacuum to be filled with more Sharia, and a civil war would make the entire country hostage to the fulfillment of its demands. "Nigeria Christians liken attacks to civil war run-up," by Ola Awoniyi for Agence France-Presse, January 8:

The head of Nigeria's Christians has warned that attacks on the faithful that have killed more than 80 people suggest "religious cleansing" and compared it to the run-up to the 1960s civil war.

The intensifying violence as well as warnings from Christian leaders that they will defend themselves come at a crucial moment for Nigeria, with the country also facing nationwide strikes on Monday over soaring fuel prices.

The stark warning from Ayo Oritsejafor, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria, on Saturday came with at least six gun and bomb attacks targeting Christians since Christmas having killed more than 80 people.

Attacks have seen victims gunned down while their eyes were closed in prayer in church, caught up in a gruesome bomb blast while leaving Christmas services and shot while gathering to mourn the death of a friend.

In the latest violence, residents said gunmen shot dead three people believed to be Christians as they were playing poker on Saturday night in the northeastern town of Biu.

Islamist group Boko Haram has claimed most of the violence, which has sparked fears of a wider religious conflict in a country whose 160 million population is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.

A purported spokesman for the group a week ago gave Christians living in the north a three-day ultimatum to leave the region. In claiming subsequent attacks, the spokesman said they were in response to the ultimatum.

At mass on Sunday in the capital Abuja, worshippers were frisked and made to pass through metal detectors upon entry -- measures that have been in place for several weeks.

In the economic capital Lagos, which has not been hit by attacks, churchgoers were told to be on alert for any suspicious movements.

Oritsejafor said on Saturday that Christians would defend themselves, though he added that he was not advocating reprisals.

An emergency meeting of church heads concluded "that the pattern of these killings does suggest to us a systematic ethnic and religious cleansing," he said.

The ethnic groups are being targeted because of their religion.

"We are reminded by the occurrences of these killings of the genesis of the civil war that took place here in Nigeria."...

A Voice of the Martyrs Volunteer