Christians in Africa Face Hellish Circumstances

By Gregory Simpkins

During the two terms that I worked for Chairman Chris Smith at the House Africa Subcommittee, we encountered Christians persecuted in Africa and the Middle East. However, in no country was this persecution as intense and pervasive as Nigeria.

We met Habila Adamu, a Nigerian man who was shot in the face when he refused to convert to Islam. By God’s grace, he survived, but many in his village did not.

Over a period of several years, we visited churches that had been attacked and spoke with people who told us they had been threatened if they didn’t convert to Islam. Chairman Smith and I met with not only Christians, but also non-radical Muslims who said they too were attacked by extremists.

One Muslim cleric told us: “If you speak out during services on Friday, by Saturday, you are a target.”

Boko Haram and the Chibok Girls

In our investigation of Boko Haram, we learned that orthodox Nigerian Muslims saw this group as aberrant in their philosophies despite efforts by less radical believers in Islam to understand them.

Remember the abduction of nearly 300 girls from a school in Chibok in April 2014? That was largely a religious matter as the abductees were forced to convert to Islam and many were married to Boko Haram militants.

We met with girls who had escaped kidnapping both in Nigeria and in the United States. Their accounts of events were tragic.

Rising Violence Across Africa

Nigerian Christians live in the seventh-worst nation for persecution, according to Open Doors’ World Watch List 2025. Christians are targeted by Islamist militants, such as Fulani herdsmen and terror groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

From July 2009 to March 2022, 45,644 Christians were targeted and killed. In 2023, the death toll was estimated at 7,000.

Among the persecution stories reported is a Palm Sunday attack in which Fulani extremists killed at least 54 Christians, which included children, in their homes. The entire village was displaced.

The report also detailed the increase of persecution in Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), caused primarily by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an ISIS affiliate group. From 2024 to 2025, the country’s rank shifted from the 41st worst country in which Christians face violence to the 35th.

Expanding Hotspots: Kenya, Somalia, and Beyond

Among the atrocities recorded is a February 12 attack in which ADF beheaded 70 Christians in a church, including women and children.

Kenya reportedly also has seen an increase of persecution against Christians, particularly in the Northeast where 90 percent of the population consists of Muslim Somalis, who severely persecute those who convert from Islam to Christianity.

The Voice of the Martyrs reports that in the Northeast, “Christian missionaries from other parts of Kenya and converts from Islam are often attacked and have been killed,” churches’ activities in these regions “are severely limited by the local communities” and “local governments in resistant areas are led by Muslim officials who do little to protect the rights of believers.”

In Kenya, the group al-Shabaab, the primary perpetrator of targeted attacks against Christians, was placed on the Entities of Particular Concern list. Such an entity is a non-state, non-sovereign group that violates religious freedom severely and “exercises significant political power and territorial control; is outside the control of a sovereign government; and often employs violence in pursuit of its objectives.”

The report states that neither Nigeria nor DR Congo are designated by the U.S. State Department as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), a nation in which citizens face “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom.”

International Christian Concern (ICC) in June released a report calling attention to the increasing persecution Christians face in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, the DR Congo and Kenya.

The comprehensive report, called “Troubling Trends: Escalating Persecution of Christians in Africa,” describes incidents of attacks, murders, abductions and displacements of Christians in Africa during the first quarter of 2025 while examining the surge of targeted slaughters throughout the years.

Open Doors has told Fox News Digital: “The crisis facing large areas of sub-Saharan Africa is hard to overstate. It is potentially existential for the future peace and stability of several nations in the region, not least Nigeria.”

“Around 150,000 people have been killed in jihadist violence over the last ten years. Over 16 million Christians have been driven from their homes and their land across the region.”

It is unfortunate to say the least that Christians in Nigeria, DR Congo and Kenya have been attacked, but this is a horrific phenomenon elsewhere on the continent as well:

Mali: Church leaders in Mopti were given an ultimatum by jihadists to convert to Islam, help wage the Islamization war, pay tithes to jihadists and dress according to Islamic law or leave the area.

Somalia: Christians from Muslim backgrounds have become high-value targets for al-Shabaab and may be killed if discovered. Leaving Islam is seen as a betrayal of family and clan.

Libya: Evangelism is considered to warrant a death sentence. Christians must conceal their faith due to danger from authorities and society.

Eritrea: Imprisonment for following Jesus is likely. Authorities monitor churches closely, and believers from Muslim backgrounds face extreme pressure.

Mozambique: ISIS-affiliated terrorists brutally attacked villages in Cabo Delgado province, killing Christians, burning homes and displacing an estimated 46,000 persons. Growing threats from ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliates targeting Christians have led to beheadings, abductions and displacement across Africa.

Calls for International Action

U.S. officials have been urged to put Nigeria back on the list of nations violating religious freedom. Chairman Smith introduced House Resolution 220 on March 11.

If passed, Nigeria would be designated as a CPC. As the House Committee on Foreign Affairs reviews the resolution, the report calls believers to pray for Nigerian Christians and urges Christians in the U.S. to “contact your U.S. Representative and urge them to support H. Res. 220.”

ICC urges U.S. citizens to contact their representatives and advocate for its passage, but as of mid-August, the resolution had not been brought to a vote.

The White House, faced with an ongoing and growing tsunami of murderous attacks by Islamic State-allied groups against Christians in sub-Saharan Africa, is now working closely with the State Department to find ways to stop the killing.

Recently, the White House told Fox News Digital: “The Trump administration condemns in the strongest terms this horrific violence against Christians,” after the U.N. reported 49 Christians were butchered with machetes on July 27 in and around a church in the Eastern DR Congo, while Catholic worshipers were praying for peace.

Authorities say the killers were Islamist militants from the Allied Democratic Forces, also known as Islamic State DR Congo.

In Nigeria on that same day, 27 Christians were reported killed by Islamist Fulani tribesmen in the village of Bindi Ta-hoss, where residents are predominantly Christian. Eyewitness Solomon said, “I advised my family to seek refuge in the church, which seemed the safest place at the time.

I lost my wife and second daughter in the attack; they were burned [alive] by Fulani militias.”

Local youth leader D’Young Mangut, who helped retrieve the bodies, added, “People are being killed like chickens, and nothing is being done.”

“Such grisly proceedings have become commonplace in central Nigeria,” John Eibner, president of the Christian human rights organization Christian Solidarity International, told Fox News Digital. “It is part of a longstanding process of violent Islamization, of ethno-religious cleansing.

Last Palm Sunday, 50 Christians were similarly slaughtered in nearby Bassa. More than 165 Christians have been killed in the last four months in Plateau State (one of Nigeria’s provinces) alone,” he added.

“Massacres of the sort that happen in central Nigeria are also happening with increasing frequency in predominately Christian places like Congo and Mozambique. There is no simple solution.”

The Trump administration appears to be preparing for action. A State Department spokesperson recently told Fox News Digital: “The Department of State is working closely with the White House to identify opportunities to further the cause of religious freedom around the world.”

The spokesperson added, “Religious freedom for all people worldwide is a moral and national security imperative and a U.S. foreign policy priority. As President Trump has stated, the United States will vigorously promote this freedom.”

Welcome words, but actions have not in the past been completely forthcoming. For example, House Resolution 220 continues to languish in that legislative body while Christians in Nigeria are killed at an estimated rate of one every two hours.

A Plea to the Global Church

In light of the June report, ICC President Jeff King took the opportunity to encourage Christians across the world to support African believers.

“The Church in Africa is facing some of the most severe challenges of our time,” King said. “We must not look away. These are our brothers and sisters.

“First, follow the issue,” King said. “Understand what’s happening so you can be an advocate. Call your elected officials. Demand action.”

Hopefully, this appeal will not fall upon deaf ears.

Gregory Simpkins, a longtime specialist in African policy development, is the Principal of 21st Century Solutions. He consults with organizations on African policy issues generally, especially in relating to the U.S. Government. He further acts as a consultant to the African Merchants Association, where he advises the Association in its efforts to stimulate an increase in trade between several hundred African Diaspora small and medium enterprises and their African partners.