Another brutal massacre in Nigeria — reports say more than 20 Christians were slaughtered in the latest wave of attacks, a grim reminder that the bloodshed against innocent worshippers is not an isolated horror but part of a growing campaign of violence. This is not random crime; it is targeted brutality aimed at communities who simply want to live and worship in peace.
Independent watchdogs and faith groups paint an even darker picture, estimating thousands of Christian deaths and abductions so far this year, which adds horrifying context to these latest killings. When NGOs and local monitors tally the carnage in the thousands, you cannot chalk it up to coincidence or normal criminality — it is a sustained assault that deserves to be named and confronted.
The international response has finally begun to stir — the U.S. announced visa restrictions targeting Nigerians involved in violence against religious minorities, a welcome but overdue step that shows Washington is starting to take notice. Still, symbolic measures are not enough; sanctioning a few bad actors is a start, but America’s friends and allies must move from statements to pressure that stops the slaughter and protects the vulnerable.
Kidnappings and mass abductions have become part of the grim pattern, including the recent seizure of hundreds of students from a Catholic boarding school, underscoring how lawlessness and terror now reach even sacred classrooms. These aren’t isolated headlines — they are evidence that state security is failing and that innocent lives, especially Christian lives, are being sacrificed on the altar of indifference and incompetent governance.
We have seen massacres of chilling scale in places such as Yelwata and other communities where scores were murdered and hundreds displaced, scenes that should shatter the conscience of every civilized nation. Yet the global media and many governments still treat this as distant turmoil instead of the targeted persecution and ethnic cleansing it increasingly resembles.
When schools are shuttered and entire districts are closed after attacks, as Nigerian authorities reluctantly did following recent church assaults, it proves the crisis is nationwide and the ordinary citizen pays the price for political failure. The Nigerian people deserve a government that protects them, not one that offers platitudes while families bury their dead and communities are razed.
Conservatives must speak plainly: this is a moral and strategic crisis. Our leaders in Washington should escalate pressure — targeted sanctions, support for on-the-ground humanitarian and security assistance, and firm diplomatic steps — until the Nigerian government proves it can and will protect religious minorities. The free world cannot herald human rights while turning a blind eye when Christians are being murdered for their faith.
Americans who cherish faith and freedom cannot be silent witnesses. Pray for the victims, demand action from elected officials, support trusted relief organizations on the ground, and call out the media and politicians who minimize or ignore this slaughter. Our country was founded to stand for the persecuted and to confront evil when it threatens the innocent; now is the time to act and to insist that justice and protection are more than words.
