America Is Still Worth Giving Thanks For
For the frustrated and disillusioned on the right, here are four foundational reasons to give thanks for this great country.For the frustrated and disillusioned on the right, here are four foundational reasons to give thanks for this great country.Rapper thanks Trump for defending Nigerian Christians; president threatens to 'completely wipe out' their jihadi attackers
Nigeria is a fast-growing country with an estimated population of over 239 million. According to the CIA Worldbook's 2018 estimate, roughly 53.5% of the Nigerian population is Muslim and roughly 45.9% of the population is Christian.
Despite being over 100 million strong, Nigeria's Christian population faces brutal persecution at the hands of radical Muslim groups.
President Donald Trump, who vowed ahead of the 2024 election to "protect persecuted Christians," made abundantly clear over the weekend that those now savaging the followers of Christ in Nigeria may soon reap the whirlwind, courtesy of the U.S. military.
While the Nigerian regime has decried Trump's efforts to prevent further bloodshed, others have celebrated the American president's interest in resolving yet another conflict — including Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj, who thanked Trump and his team on Saturday.
Background
The Christian persecution watchdog Open Doors now ranks Nigeria as the seventh-worst place for Christians in the world, noting that "Christians are particularly at risk from targeted attacks by Islamist militants, including Fulani fighters, Boko Haram and ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province)."
According to the watchdog, over 4,100 Christians were killed for their faith between October 2022 and September 2023 alone — an average of 11 Christians slaughtered every day. During that same period studied by Open Doors, over 3,300 Nigerian Christians were abducted. The situation appears to have grown more dire in the years since.
RELATED: Nigerian Christians are being murdered by Islamic radicals. This congressman has had enough.
A report issued in August by the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law indicated that Fulani fighters and other jihadists massacred over 7,000 Christians in the first seven months of this year.
While some academics have warned against grouping the mass-killing Fulani herder-militant groups with other Islamist outfits targeting Christians — claiming their attacks are instead driven by economics or climate — the Fulani attacks appear to have a religious motive as well.
Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern and a leading expert on religious persecution, told Blaze News earlier this year that like Boko Haram, the Fulani militants, a group of traditionally nomadic cattle herders seeking greater grazing lands for their livestock, "are also driven by Islam's practice of using violence to subjugate territories to Islam. In fact, the Fulanis are the driving force behind radical Islam's massive land-grab of a huge swath of Africa known as the Sahel. They are motivated by a desire to rebuild a caliphate they had built in the 1700s and 1800s."
The persecution of Christians by the Fulani militants and other radical Muslim groups has reportedly worsened since Bola Ahmed Tinubu became Nigeria's president in 2023.
Taking action
Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) and other lawmakers, confronted with indications that the situation is worsening for Nigeria's Christians, have called on the Trump administration to take action.
"Since Boko Haram's insurgency in 2009, more than 50,000 Christians have been murdered and more than 5 million have been displaced. Just this year, a priest was kidnapped and murdered on Ash Wednesday. 54 Christians were martyred on Palm Sunday," Moore noted early last month. "At least 250 priests have been attacked or killed in the last decade. More than 19,000 churches have been attacked or destroyed since 2009 — averaging three per day."
Moore, who indicated that elements of the Nigerian regime have reportedly been involved in recent anti-Christian attacks, asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern. Evidently the administration similarly feels strongly about the matter.
'If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet.'
President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he was applying the designation and asked Reps. Moore and Tom Cole (R-Okla.) along with the House Appropriations Committee to immediately look into the matter.
"Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter," wrote Trump. "I am hereby making Nigeria a 'COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN' — But that is the least of it. When Christians, or any such group, is slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria (3,100 versus 4,476 Worldwide), something must be done!"
The CPC designation is applied under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to nations engaged in severe violations of religious freedom. The designation can carry with it significant economic and diplomatic consequences.
Nigeria was previously slapped with the designation by the first Trump administration in 2020, but this was subsequently lifted by the Biden administration.
RELATED: Bill Maher's shocking defense of Christians — and what it reveals
Nicki Minaj was among those who celebrated Trump's decision, stating, "Reading this made me feel a deep sense of gratitude. We live in a country where we can freely worship God."
"No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion," said the rapper.
"Numerous countries all around the world are being affected by this horror & it’s dangerous to pretend we don’t notice. Thank you to The President & his team for taking this seriously. God bless every persecuted Christian. Let’s remember to lift them up in prayer."
Republican Reps. Moore, Cole, and Mario Díaz-Balart (Fla.) noted in a joint statement, "With President Trump announcing he will be redesignating Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, the United States is making clear in one resolute voice: religious persecution will not be tolerated. The scourge of anti-Christian violence and oppression of other religious minorities by radical Islamic terrorists is an affront to religious freedom. This is a critical step in mobilizing leadership and attention to confront evil extremism."
Just in case the designation wasn't enough, Trump threatened a military intervention in the event that the Nigerian regime fails to protect Christians.
"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," Trump said in a Truth Social post on Saturday evening.
"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! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!" added the president.
Fresh off blowing an apparent narco-trafficking vessel to smithereens, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed the Department of War was "preparing for action."
— (@)
The promise of a reckoning clearly made officials over in the Nigerian capital of Abuja nervous.
President Tinubu rushed out a statement on Saturday claiming that his nation "stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty.
"The characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians," wrote Tinubu. "Religious freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective identity and shall always remain so. Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it."
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Trump Urges U.N. To Protect ‘The Most Persecuted Religion On The Planet Today’ — Christianity
'Too many U.N. members are actively engaged in persecuting Christians,' said Ryan Brown, CEO of Open Doors US.A New Film Pays Fitting Tribute To The Christian Martyr Of Auschwitz
Like any truly beautiful story, Triumph of the Heart breaks you out of this world, leaving an indelible impression with its message of sacrificial love.Senate Needs To Confirm Religious Freedom Ambassador Before More Christians Are Tortured Abroad
While the mainstream media barely covers these events, it’s clear that many Americans want the U.S. to do more to stop the persecution of Christians.Pastor crucified in bed as anti-Christian hate turns deadly
Just down the road from my house, a pastor was crucified in his bed — crown of thorns and all.
That’s not the start of a horror movie. It’s the real story of Pastor William Schonemann of New River Bible Chapel in Arizona. His murder in May received almost no media coverage until last week, when the suspect not only confessed to the killing but admitted he had plans to assassinate four more pastors in Arizona — and others across the country.
As a pastor who lives not far from where this happened, I couldn’t help but wonder: Was I on his list?
If the killer had cited Christian teachings while attacking a Planned Parenthood activist or drag performer, Los Angeles would be on fire and the Palestinian flag would fly from city hall.
The motive? The suspect claimed to be on a divine mission to “purify Israel” of anyone who teaches that Jesus is the Son of God. His logic was as deranged as it was deadly: You can’t kill the Son of God — so Jesus isn’t the Son of God. Therefore, anyone who says otherwise must die. He targeted pastors who preach that God forgives repentant sinners through Christ.
In other words, he hunted Christians.
This wasn’t an isolated attack. Just last week, a deacon in Michigan stopped a would-be shooter from opening fire inside a church. Whether through violence or through the daily pressure campaign of soft totalitarianism from elected leftists — who impose radical gender and social ideology — Christians face growing persecution in America.
RELATED: Nigerian Christians face latest massacre by militant Muslims
So here’s the question: Will these attacks on Christians be prosecuted as hate crimes?
U.S. law defines a hate crime as violence motivated by bias against a protected class. Religion qualifies. A man confesses to murdering a pastor because he preached the gospel. That’s not just homicide — it’s a textbook hate crime.
Crickets instead of courage
So where’s the outrage?
The answer is simple. We’ve allowed a media and university culture to take root that treats Christianity not just as wrong — but as evil. Christians, they insist, stand in the way of liberation, especially sexual liberation. The man who murdered Pastor Schonemann didn’t need a gender studies degree to absorb the worldview pushed by most public universities and entertainment platforms.
LGBTQ centers, DEI bureaucracies, and entire academic departments teach students that Christianity is repressive, outdated, and harmful. Professors tell them Christians cannot be victims of oppression because Christians are the majority. We must be decolonized, dismantled, or disappeared.
Curriculum has consequences.
Most people never enroll in Gender Studies 401, but they absorb the ideology from those who do. Graduates of these programs run media outlets, direct Netflix specials, and draft corporate policy. So when Amazon Prime pushes queer identity as liberation, the implied message is clear: Christian morality is the enemy. And when that message gets repeated often enough, unstable people act on it.
A chilling double standard
Now imagine the reverse. Had the victim belonged to a different religion — particularly one deemed “marginalized” or “indigenous” — CNN would run wall-to-wall coverage. MSNBC hosts would cry on air about America’s hatred. The Justice Department would announce investigations before the body cooled.
If the killer had cited Christian teachings while attacking a Planned Parenthood activist or drag performer, Los Angeles would be on fire and the Palestinian flag would fly from city hall.
But Pastor Schonemann preached Christ crucified. And so, the outrage is muted.
Time to act
Calling out this double standard matters, but it’s not enough. Pointing fingers at leftist hypocrisy only gets us so far. It’s time for action.
First, Christians must expose the incoherence of the ideologies used to justify this persecution. These movements promise justice but cannot define it. They claim to liberate, yet they demand conformity and submission. As a philosophy professor, I’ve challenged my own university’s faculty to debate these ideas. So far, silence. But shining light on the hollowness of their worldview creates space for the truth — and for grace.
Second, Christians must stop funding the institutions that despise us. Public universities are not neutral. They’ve become temples of anti-Christian dogma. Professors hide behind “academic freedom,” but the Constitution does not require taxpayers to bankroll propaganda. We must say: “No more. I won’t pay you to teach my child to hate the truth.”
After the murder, Pastor Schonemann’s son noted that the media seemed more interested in the killer than in his father’s life and witness. He’s right. And when the media finally does speak, don’t be surprised if it’s to ask: “Why do Christians deserve this?”
Universities are not neutral
Years ago, I sat on a panel at Harvard Law School. It was just before the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling. One panelist — an Ivy League professor of some renown — smiled and said, “Christians like to be persecuted, so let them be.” The audience applauded. No one flinched.
It’s time for Christian parents to wake up. The age of the “neutral” university has ended. Our children are not just being taught to tolerate different views — they are being indoctrinated to hate what is true, good, and beautiful. They are told in no uncertain terms: Christianity is the problem.
Until we demand equal protection under the law — and stop funding our own cultural executioners — the attacks will continue.
The killer in Arizona refused dialogue. He chose violence to silence the truth. Ask yourself: How different is that from the message preached by DEI activists and gender ideologues who say we must either conform or disappear?
They’ve told us exactly what they believe. It’s time we take them at their word.
'Blown to bits': Suicide bomber targets Christian church in jihadist-controlled Syria
Multitudes of Syrian Christians gathered for mass Sunday evening inside the Greek Orthodox Church of the Prophet Elias in Damascus — and dozens of them never returned home.
Their prayers were interrupted by a jihadist who opened fire on the faithful, then detonated an explosive vest, killing at least 25 Christians and wounding 63 others. The explosion reportedly caused extensive damage to the structure of the church.
This terrorist attack — yet another reminder of the unrelenting persecution of Christians worldwide — was supposedly executed by a member of ISIS.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa — the Islamic terrorist also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who rose through the ranks of the Islamic State of Iraq before founding an Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra — condemned the attack and expressed condolences, reported the state-owned network Alikhbaria Syria.
Al-Sharaa called the attack a "heinous crime" that serves as a reminder of the importance of solidarity and unity of the regime and people in the face of security threats.
Christian persecution watchdogs have warned in recent months that the al-Sharaa regime cannot be trusted. After all, the regime is largely composed of and led by elements of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, an Al-Qaeda spinoff terrorist organization linked in its formative years to the late leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and whose current leader was until recently a specially designated global terrorist who fought against American forces in Iraq.
Jeff King of International Christian Concern, for instance, noted after the reported massacre of Syrian Christians by regime-aligned jihadists in March that the government is "Al-Qaeda and ISIS in a new guise."
Despite his personal history with ISIS and Al-Qaeda, it is nevertheless in al-Sharaa's interest to respond forcefully to the attack, not only to remain on good terms with President Donald Trump — who vowed to "protect persecuted Christians" ahead of the 2024 election and whose administration lifted U.S. sanctions last month — but to counter the internal threat to his rule. After all, ISIS now regards the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham-led regime as illegitimate.
RELATED: Progressives' Middle East meddling keeps costing innocent lives
Al Jazeera reported that ISIS has repeatedly attacked government forces in recent months, labeling the government an "apostate regime."
Mazhar al-Wais, the Syrian minister of justice, called the bombing a "cowardly crime targeting the unity of Syrians," suggesting that al-Sharaa's regime would not tolerate terrorism.
A senior U.S. official told Blaze News, "This is just another reminder that global jihadists see innocent unarmed Christians as legitimate targets."
"The new government in Damascus will be measured in large part by its willingness to protect minorities and neutralize groups like ISIS," added the official.
Ever distrustful of the regime, the Syrian Network for Human Rights insisted Sunday that "protecting the crime scene at Mar Elias Church is a necessary first step toward establishing the truth and achieving accountability."
'People were praying safely under the eyes of God.'
The watchdog group suggested that extra to securing the site's perimeter and preventing unauthorized entry and tampering with evidence, it is essential that Syrian authorities "regulate the movement of personnel and media to ensure that only authorized forensic teams are allowed to work on site" and to "implement accurate documentation procedures."
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch said in the immediate wake of the attack, "The treacherous hand of evil struck this evening claiming our lives, along with the lives of our loved ones who fell today as martyrs during the evening Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Prophet Elias in Dweilaa, Damascus."
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I asked Patriarch John X, the primate of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, to convey his heartfelt condolences and support to the families of the victims, and prayed to "the All-Good God to rest the souls of the innocent victims of the attack."
RELATED: Why are Islamists targeting Catholic priests?
Witnesses indicated that when the suicide bomber entered the church and began firing, parishioners heroically charged him, reported the Associated Press. Once confronted, the masked terrorist detonated his vest.
"People were praying safely under the eyes of God," said Fr. Fadi Ghattas, who was present when at least 20 Christians were killed by the explosion. "There were 350 people praying at the church."
Issam Nasr, a witness who was praying inside the church, said he observed some victims get "blown to bits."
"We have never held a knife in our lives," said Nasr, underscoring the defenseless nature of the Christians targeted in Damascus. "All we ever carried were our prayers."
According to International Christian Concern, parish priest Fr. Youhanna Shehata assisted in carrying the remains of over 20 victims out of the church in the wake of the attack.
Blaze News reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Trump FBI launches investigation into leftist violence against Christians in Seattle
kokouu via iStock/Getty ImagesRev. Reginald Avant of the Madrona Grace Presbyterian Church similarly issued a condemnation, not of the violent anti-Christian radicals but rather the Christians they attacked, stating, "We condemn these actions of hate by a misguided group of believers who targeted the LGBTQI community. Instead, we stand with the LGBTQI community on the right side for justice and love."
Other "faith leader" comments shared by the mayor's office suggested the Mayday organizers weren't real Christians; that they committed a "hateful" attack on vulnerable non-straights; and that they were bigots.
First Amendment rally
In the wake of Harrell's demonization of conservative Christians, demonstrators showed up to Seattle City Hall on Tuesday to "stand against the religious bigotry of Mayor Bruce Harrell and the Seattle City Council."
Whereas demonstrators stressed the importance of free speech, radical leftists once again turned to violence, prompting Seattle Police to make eight arrests, including one arrest of a leftist who allegedly assaulted an officer.
Organizers for the protest said in a statement obtained by KCPQ-TV, "Under Mayor Harrell's leadership, the city of Seattle has continued its spiral into lawlessness and dysfunction while the first amendment rights of citizens to peacefully assemble has been disregarded."
In addition to attention from the White House and the FBI, Democratic city officials might also have to deal with a legal battle as the Christian legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom indicated that it is "evaluating legal action" against Mayor Harrell and city officials.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Trump Is Right To Prioritize Refugees Who Will Make Better Americans
A successful refugee policy must balance sustainability and cultural coherence.Biden’s Lawfare Nearly Ripped This South Dakota Ranching Family Apart
This family faced jail sentences so extreme 'they were told to find alternatives to raise their young children,' Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins said.Today's top stories
www.theblaze.com