BEST OF: It goes without saying that War is Peace, especially when the President of Peace continually threatens war or supports the same indirectly: from Gaza to Venezuela and now Nigeria. The President posted this threat to Nigeria over the Halloween weekend: “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities. I am 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!” Notice that he is not talking about protecting American citizens, but a random diverse group of Christians. In response, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth responded: “Yes sir… The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria — and anywhere — must end immediately. The Department of War is preparing for action. Either the Nigerian Government protects Christians, or we will kill the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.” https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/01/politics/trump-pentagon-nigeria-action Aside from this grandiose posturing on social media the entire production is grotesquely hypocritical for several reasons. Just a few weeks ago, a gunman in north-west Nigeria stormed a Mosque and shot 17 worshipers. Muazu, Katsina state's commissioner for internal security, said the attack occurred during morning prayers and that the gunmen shot "sporadically". Muazu said the local government "reaffirms its unwavering support for community-based security initiatives.” https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkz8345jl0o.amp A 2017 story from Amnesty International recounted how “The Nigerian authorities must ensure justice, truth and reparation over the military’s unlawful killing of more than 350 Shi’a Muslims in the northern city of Zaria in December 2015… Between 12 and 14 December 2015, Nigerian security forces killed hundreds of civilians, some of them supporters of the IMN – including men, women and children – and arrested more than 200 following a Shi’a Muslim protest.” https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2017/12/nigeria-families-of-hundreds-of-shia-muslims-killed-in-zaria-still-await-justice/ In other words, Muslims are being killed too. Let’s take an even deeper look at Nigeria. According to a 2024 report from “The Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa,” there have been 11,000 incidents of extreme violence from October 2019 through September of 2023. The violence left 55,910 people dead in 9,970 deadly attacks — as well as 21,621 people abducted in 2,705 attacks. The total number includes civilian deaths, terror group deaths, and Nigerian Armed Forces deaths. Of the total deaths, 30,880 were civilians. Of the civilians, at least 16,769 Christians were killed, 6,235 Muslims were killed and 154 adherents of traditional African religions were killed. The religions of 7,722 victims are unknown. The report says further: “The ratio of Christians to Muslims killed rises significantly when the religious composition of the states is taken into consideration. Looking at the overall numbers, the ratio of Christians to Muslims killed was 2.7:1; the ratio of Christians to Muslims abducted was 1.4:1. However, when taking into account the relative sizes of the Christian and Muslim populations within the different states, the ratio of Christians to Muslims killed increases to 6.5:1, and the ratio of Christians to Muslims abducted to 5.1:1.” “Fulani Ethnic Militia are targeting Christian populations, while Muslims also suffer severely at their hands,” the Rev. Gideon Para-Mallam, another analyst for The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa, said in a statement. https://ewtn.co.uk/article-56000-killed-in-nigerias-ethnic-and-religious-violence-christians-disproportionately-affected/ https://orfa.africa/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/26082024-ORFA-4-YEARS-REPORT.pdf Sure, Christians are being targeted, but so are Muslims. But in both cases, religion is not the driving factor behind the attacks and killings in Nigeria. According to the French Institute for Research in Africa, Nigeria: “The notion that religious violence in Nigeria is always characterized by conflicts between religions (Muslims versus Christians) is too simplistic. This study shows that between June 2006 and May 2014 the frequency of violent death incidents involving Islamic groups against Islamic groups is 60, a figure higher than 57, which is the frequency of violent death incidents involving Islamic groups against Christian groups or churches within the same period. A second major point in this paper is that violence involving religious groups is not always caused by religious issues. This explains why the frequency of violent death incidents involving Islamic groups against Christian groups or churches due to non-religious issues is as high as 42 between June 2006 and May 2014. Thirdly, it remains inconclusive whether or not more Muslims than Christians (or vice versa) are killed because of violence in general in Nigeria. Finally, the Western media frames violence in Nigeria as being mainly inter-religious, while lethal incidents involving Islamic groups against Islamic groups are largely under-reported.” https://books.openedition.org/ifra/1935?lang=en Saying that only Christians are being targeted is ignorant and or disingenuous and dangerous. It's like Democrats saying that a black man being arrested for robbing a store is only being arrested because of the color of his skin. Maybe he's been arrested because he committed a crime. Saying that Christians are being targeted because of their religion neglects to mention the context that thousands of others are also being killed, and that the violence is primarily a byproduct of a broken system and war. A US State Department report from 2023, “Report on International Religious Freedom: Nigeria” noted “the killings were not related to religion but were the activities of ‘uninformed people’.” The same report also found and stated explicitly: “According to government security services, NGOs, media, academic, and other observers, the level of violence driven by rising criminality again continued to worsen during the year. Because issues of religion, ethnicity, land and resource competition, and criminality are often closely linked, it was difficult to categorize many incidents as being solely, or even primarily, based on religious identity.” https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/nigeria/ Now let’s take a deeper look at Israel’s actions. Just as many Christians are killed in Nigeria over farmland, Israeli settler have been slaughtering Palestinian farmers, with no mention of their religion made in the news, for over half a century. A recent AP article confirmed with video evidence that Israeli terrorists beat farmers during the recent olive harvest in the West Bank. https://apnews.com/article/israel-settlers-west-bank-attack-annexation-1e9cbd6af6ea502fbfca5d9ffe949b0b Father Bashar Fawadleh, parish priest of the Church of Christ the Redeemer in Taybeh, told ACI MENA: “The town, which the Gospel of John (11:54) refers to as ‘Ephraim’ — the place Jesus withdrew to before his passion — is no longer safe for its people today… We do not live in peace but in daily fear and siege.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/amp/news/265035/priest-warns-christian-town-of-taybe-in-holy-land-no-longer-safe-amid-settler-attacks In July 2025 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country "deeply regrets that a stray ammunition" hit Gaza's only Catholic Church. A few weeks before Israeli forces assaulted Christians in Jerusalem on holy Saturday at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8ge7vllw9o.amp https://www.newarab.com/news/israeli-forces-assault-christians-jerusalem-holy-saturday In 2024, Israel bombed a Catholic Church in Lebanon, Saint George’s, destroying the offices of the parish and the residence of the local priest. They even slaughtered the rescue team. https://zenit.org/2024/10/11/israel-bombs-catholic-church-in-lebanon-and-attacks-un-blue-helmets/#google_vignette Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-secret-teachings--5328407/support. Thank you for supporting independent, unbiased inquiry into the mysteries of our world.
