ICC Note: Nigeria represents one of the most difficult places on earth to live as a Christian. The Church in the country’s north, in particular, faces threats of violence from Boko Haram and other radical Islamist gangs such as Fulani herders who continue to decimate Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt with mass murder and property destruction. The following report from Open Doors details a history of the violence, shocking statistics climbing to the tens of thousands of Christians killed and churches destroyed since 2000, and ways forward considering the continuing threat.

2/27/16 Nigeria (Open Doors) – Nigeria is a country torn in two. While Southern Nigeria is economically stable and enjoys relative peace, Northern Nigeria is rattled by continuing targeted attacks of violent groups, social and economic insecurity and ethno-religious conflicts between various groups. Especially Christians living in these areas have been bearing the brunt of this violence and insecurity.

Northern Nigeria hosts a substantial Christian population in the area where Islam meets Christianity. With an estimated thirty million adherents in the Northern region, it is the largest minority in a mainly Muslim environment. This environment has become ever more hostile in recent decades, leading to growing marginalization and discrimination, as well as widespread attacks on Christians, especially in the last fifteen years. Even though Nigeria is a secular state with a constitution that guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and religion, the reality in Northern Nigeria is radically different.

For decades, Christians in the region have suffered marginalization and discrimination as well as targeted violence. This is happening not only in the Sharia states of the Far North where the pressure of Islam is hard felt, but also in the non-Sharia Middle Belt states where Sharia has not been formally implemented. This research report of Open Doors International, named ‘Crushed but not defeated, the impact of persistent violence on the Church in Northern Nigeria’ lists the effects of violence on Christian communities, church activities and individual Christians

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