CNS News - Christian Group Urges Nigeria to Crack Down on Religious Killings

By Patrick Goodenough
September 19, 2011

(CNSNews.com) – A Christian legal group in the United States is urging the Nigerian government to take action in response to the deaths of almost 200 Christians and attacks on more than 500 churches after elections in Africa’s most populous state last April.

The appeal by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) followed a three-month investigation across Nigeria’s restive shari’a belt – the 12 northern states where Islamic law has been implemented since the late 1990s.

The ACLJ said the May-July investigation found similar patterns of attacks in all 12 states where the worst of the violence had occurred.

On Sunday came news of more bloodshed – three people killed and eight wounded when gunmen opened fire on a Christian village in Kaduna state, one of the worst-hit areas in the post-election violence. The Associated Press quoted a state police official as saying no arrests had been made.

Muslims account for around 50 percent of Nigeria’s 155 million people, while about 40 percent are Christians.

Last week the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent statutory bodies that advises the executive and legislative branches, urged the Obama administration to designate Nigeria – as well as Pakistan, Vietnam, Egypt, Iraq and Turkmenistan – as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs) for religious freedom violations.

USCIRF chairman Leonard Leo made the call after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton named as CPCs the same eight that were designated by the Bush administration in early 2009 – Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan.

CPCs are countries whose governments either perpetrate or condone “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” abuses of religious freedom. The U.S. may impose sanctions or take other diplomatic steps to encourage improvements. . . .

. . . . “It is very disturbing to find that Christians were specifically targeted and in many instances killed because of their religious beliefs,” said ACLJ executive director Jordan Sekulow.

“At a time when Christians face persecution in so many parts of the world, it’s important that Nigeria step up and take the corrective action necessary to ensure that the religious and civil rights of Christians are protected.”

You can read the complete story here.