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Confronting Religious Persecution at the IRF Summit

Feb. 10Stories That Demand Action:

Last week I spoke on a panel at the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit in Washington, D.C.—a global gathering that brings together advocates, policymakers, and legal experts from around the world who are on the front lines of defending religious freedom. The Summit provides a rare forum to share firsthand experiences, expose ongoing...More

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Save Christians From Murder in Congo

Save Christians From Murder in...

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has once again become the site of unspeakable violence , with Christian communities being targeted by terrorists and militant forces. On February 15, over 70 Christians – primarily women, children, and the elderly – were added to the list of victims when they were abducted...More

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Nigerian Christians

52,250.

That’s how many innocent Christians have been killed in Nigeria since 2009, according to a recent report from the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law.

That’s nearly 4,000 Christians a year gunned down, beheaded, and even burned alive by Islamic extremists simply for their faith in Jesus. Christian children are being abducted. Young women and girls are being sold into slavery, or worse.

IT’S GETTING WORSE.

A new report by Open Doors International, a human rights watch group, states 90% of Christians murdered worldwide last year were in Nigeria. The year before, it was 80%.

Think about that. That number is staggering. One nation is responsible for 90% of all Christians killed for their faith in the entire world. I bet you didn’t know that – because the mainstream media and the Biden Administration are completely ignoring this genocidal uptick in Christian persecution.

Defenseless Christian men, women, and children are being marched toward extinction at an alarming rate by evil extremists who’ve been empowered by an apathetic government. Nigeria is being called the “epicenter” of anti-Christian violence.

As we reported, even the specter of ISIS has risen again in Nigeria, where Boko Haram, the Islamic militia that has sworn its loyalty to ISIS, has abducted or executed scores of innocent Christians.

And lest anyone think Christians only make up a tiny minority in the African nation, Christians make up almost 50% of Nigeria’s population. Nonetheless, their lives are treated as worthless, and radical jihadists have no compunction about hunting them down.

Now Nigeria is teetering on the edge of genocide, and the world’s leaders know, but they’re not doing anything about it.

In fact, the Biden Administration knew all about it but chose to abandon countless suffering Christians to vicious Islamic extremists. President Joe Biden turned his back on these dying Christians when the State Department removed Nigeria from a critical human rights watchlist for Countries of Particular Concern (CPC), actually making it even easier for Muslim militias to target Christians for death without repercussions.

And because of our lawsuit against the U.S. State Department to expose the truth behind their abominable decision to remove Nigeria from the CPC list, we now know the Biden Administration knew about the deadly violence against Nigeria’s Christians and somehow, shockingly, disregarded it.

As we told you before, ACLJ Senior Counsel Mike Pompeo added Nigeria to the list during his time as U.S. Secretary of State under President Trump due to the anti-Christian violence and human rights abuses. But despite the rising violence and bloodshed, his successor, Sec. Antony Blinken removed Nigeria from the list without explanation.

Taking Nigeria off of that critical watchlist is indefensible, yet Biden did it anyway, betraying Nigeria’s Christians. And making it even more questionable, the removal happened shortly after Sec. Blinken met with the nation’s seemingly indifferent president:

Despite being designated as a CPC in 2020 by our very own Senior Counsel for Global Affairs and then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo due to ongoing religious freedom violations, Nigeria was removed from the CPC persecution watch list by the Biden Administration in 2021 and remains absent today. In fact, Nigeria was conspicuously delisted ONE DAY before Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended Nigeria’s inclusion on the 2022 CPC list, calling the delisting decision “inexplicable” and “turning a blind eye” to Nigeria’s “particularly severe religious freedom violations.” Other groups agree with USCIRF’s assessment, including an Open Doors report noting that nearly 90% of the total number of Christians killed worldwide – and about 90% of kidnappings carried out against Christians in 2022 – occurred in Nigeria.

We can’t help but wonder what was discussed during that meeting between Blinken and President Buhari, but it doesn’t justify the betrayal of countless dying Christians.

Now we know the violent murder of Christians has increased from 80% to 90% of all Christians killed worldwide since Biden and Blinken removed Nigeria from the CPC list. It’s inexcusable.

If you could take action to stop a vicious atrocity that is taking tens of thousands of innocent lives, wouldn’t you do it? We would, and we are.

As we told you, we recently filed a critical Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request against the U.S. State Department as well as our lawsuit to expose the heinous truth and demand they reinstate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC). Even Members of Congress have introduced H. Res. 82, a bipartisan resolution that acknowledges Nigeria’s ongoing anti-Christian violence, stating that Nigeria should be put back on the CPC watchlist. But to date, as the death toll rises, the Biden Administration has ignored all pleas to defend Nigerian Christians.

We’ve also taken massive global action to defend Nigeria’s endangered Christians. We’ve gone straight to the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) – through our European affiliate office, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) – filing critical written submissions highlighting the atrocities being committed against Nigeria’s terrified Christians. And we presented urgent oral interventions, urging the international body to stand up and pressure the Nigerian government to actually protect its Christians and hold these attackers accountable.

But it certainly doesn’t help when, instead of urging other world leaders to act, our own President chose to betray Nigeria’s dying Christians.

It is our sacred duty to defend our Christian brothers and sisters. The violence is getting worse with every passing day. The world must take action now. And President Biden must answer for his imprudent betrayal of countless innocent Nigerian Christians.

527,385

Signatures

Jordan Sekulow  //

Dec 29, 2025

On Christmas Day, President Trump ordered U.S. military strikes against the Islamic State-linked terrorist camps in northwest Nigeria, targeting extremists responsible for mass killings and terror attacks –

Keith Mauck  //

Dec 22, 2025

The video is stark – rows of dead bodies laid out on the ground; grief etched onto every mourner’s face. Then a pastor breaks the silence with words no minister should ever have to say : “I am tired of burying...

Jordan Sekulow  //

Nov 07, 2025

After years of sounding the alarm here at the ACLJ , there is real momentum in Washington, D.C., to stop the murder of Christians in Nigeria. Just days ago, President Donald Trump issued a powerful Truth...