VIOLENCE IN AFRICA IS REACHING A CRISIS POINT - AND CHRISTIANS ARE IN THE CROSSHAIRS

 

February 1, 2021 Dear Friend, Each month, FRC's Center for Religious Liberty covers top international religious freedom news -- exploring challenges that believers face abroad. Here are some of the top stories in international religious freedom this month. Violence in Africa is Reaching a Crisis Point -- and Christians are in the Crosshairs As one deadly assault after another fades out of sight, encroaching assailants are rushing forward at terrifying speed. Across the African continent, other Islamist groups like ISIS, al-Shabaab, and Ansar al-Sharia are strengthening their numbers, increasing their territory, and surging ahead into country after country. In West Africa, Nigeria is the site of what has been described as a slow-motion genocide. Tens of thousands of Nigerian Christians have been massacred in recent years. In East Africa, fighters linked to Islamic State attacked several villages in Mozambique, killing civilians, abducting women and children, and burning down homes. The gruesome description in November 2020 of innocent people "herded" to their death on a soccer field, where they were systematically decapitated and dismembered, was nightmarish. In Somalia, a Christian family was recently arrested. Local police accused the couple of abandoning Islam and evangelizing the people of Somaliland, though they have since been released. As fatal violence becomes increasingly common, please continue to pray for stability and security in Africa and for the protection of Christians who often find themselves a target of terrorist attacks. China: On his last full day in office, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo officially designated China's brutal actions against Uyghur Muslims as "genocide" and "crimes against humanity." The designation puts pressure on the Biden administration to take a tough stand on China, especially regarding its human rights abuses. See FRC's resources: Will Biden Stand up to China's Genocide? Biden must follow through on the State Department's China genocide declaration Egypt: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi's rule has brought both good news and bad news to the country's Coptic Christians. For the latest developments, see Lela Gilbert's op-ed in Providence. Global: International Holocaust Remembrance Day was commemorated on January 27, marking the day that troops liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp where Nazi forces murdered more than 1.1 million people 76 years ago. This day serves as a somber reminder of the evil mankind is capable of and the necessity of guarding against antisemitism and defending the inherent dignity of all human beings. As Holocaust survivor Irving Roth notes about the Holocaust, "It begins with words." See FRC's resources: On Holocaust Remembrance Day, We Must Confront Today's Anti-Semitism Targeting the Vulnerable: Euthanasia in Nazi Germany In His Name, Lela Gilbert Senior Fellow for International Religious Freedom Arielle Del Turco Assistant Director of the Center for Religious Liberty "Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them..." Hebrews 13:3

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