Christian Leaders Call on Trump to Protect Nigerian Christians

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Christians in Nigeria are paying for their faith like no one else in the world. Attacks from Muslim extremists were once mostly limited to sacred holidays of Easter and Christmas. Now, they are almost continuous. This year, the slaughter of Nigerian Christians has hit an unprecedented level. According to a Newsweek report, over 7,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria during the first 220 days of 2025, an average of 35 killings a day.   

That’s why I joined 33 other leaders of Christian organizations this week in an appeal to President Donald Trump to declare Nigeria a “country of particular concern.” Last month, the U.S. Senate took up a bill to do the same, but just days later, Nigeria’s House of Representatives unanimously rejected the designation. The letter to the President made a very clear case for it: 

U.S. law warrants CPC [Countries of Particular Concern] designation when a country is found to be “tolerating” serious violations of religious freedom, as well as when itself carries out violations. The Nigerian government is directly violating religious freedom by enforcing Islamic blasphemy laws that carry the death penalty and harsh prison sentences against citizens of various religions. It also demonstrably tolerates relentless aggression uniquely against Christian farming families by militant Fulani Muslim herders, who appear intent on forcibly Islamizing the Middle Belt.  

The letter continues: 

Nigeria’s government allows the militant Fulani herders to attack defenseless Middle Belt Christians with complete impunity. It fails to investigate the Fulanis’ organizational structures and identify who is arming them. The authorities don’t enforce the country’s gun bans against the Fulani. They don’t act to reclaim the stolen farms for their Christian owners, who are instead consigned to destitution in internally displaced camps that receive little, if any, government assistance. They rarely arrest and never convict Fulanis who attack Christians. Even when warned of impending Fulani attacks, government security forces are typically unresponsive or ineffective. 

In his speech before the UN General Assembly on September 23, President Trump said to world leaders, “Let us protect religious liberty, including for the most persecuted religion on the planet today—it’s called Christianity.” There is no better example of what the president was talking about than Nigeria. Again, quoting from the letter: 

Across Nigeria’s north, innocent Muslims and Christians, alike, are brutally victimized by Boko Haram, and other Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked terror groups seeking religious and political domination within that country. Significantly, for Christians, Nigeria is singled out as currently the world’s most deadly country, according to the respected Christian research group Open Doors. The Nigerian civic group Inter Society on Civil Rights and Rule of Law finds that 52,000 Christians have been killed and over 20,000 churches have been attacked and destroyed since 2009 by various Islamist extremist groups in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians have been murdered and raped in the current year so far. Over 100 Christian pastors and Catholic priests have been taken hostage for ransom.  

During President Trump’s first term, he designated Nigeria as a CPC, but that designation was revoked four and half years later by President Biden. The religious freedom report of 2023 under Biden’s State Department, in a bizarrely neo-Marxist take about the attacks, blamed climate change for the “clashes” between two rural socioeconomic groups over scarce natural resources. That theory is woke nonsense. 

The U.S. State Department is anticipated to break its two-year moratorium on Countries of Particular Concern designations in December. There are concerns that the Trump administration is considering listing Nigeria on the International Religious Freedom Act “Special Watch List” instead of designating it as a CPC. The letter addresses that concern:

If so, this may stem from a misconception that CPC designation would require the United States to isolate or sanction Nigeria. In fact, the IRF Act does not mandate automatic sanctions and, moreover, provides for a sanctions waiver and cites a range of other possible policy responses.     

We believe it is long past time to address the dire situation that Nigerian Christians are facing solely for their faith. Failing to do so would dishonor religious freedom as a core pillar of U.S. foreign policy while turning a blind eye to the atrocities that are happening in Nigeria.

RELATED: Bill Maher Denounces Media for Ignoring Christian Persecution in Nigeria
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John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.

Bob Ditmer is the product manager for BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. 

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.

BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.