Rampage in Nigeria
(The following article is a student response to “Christians Targeted,” an article in World Magazine written by Edward E. Plowman.)
During the final weekend of September, Muslim youths, fueled by anti-Islamic rumors, embarked on an immensely destructive killing spree, murdering at least nine Christians. Along with the slaughters, Churches were burned to the ground, and businesses and homes of Christians were destroyed during these two long days in Nigeria. It was also reported that many people were driven from their homes or seriously injured.
Perhaps the most powerful aspect of reading these words is the fact that we have grown so accustomed to them. It is hardly a shock anymore when we read about Muslims killing Christians or a Muslim extremist leader putting a political cartoonist on the “hit list” because of his so-called “blasphemies” to Islam. We have truly grown desensitized towards such horrible things to the point where some people don’t even care anymore.
So why, you may ask, are we so unsurprised by this kind of atrocity? It is hard to come up with any other reason besides the fact that it happens so often. Muslim extremists have gotten away with an absolutely unbelievable amount of crimes, afterwards turning around and pointing their fingers at us for labeling them murderers simply because of their faith. If we don’t start acting soon, it would be no great surprise to find the middle east in an even more hostile state then it is now, as hard as that is to imagine.
Those of us trying to stop these violent outbreaks are literally stepping into a political minefield, having to overcome accusations of racism, stereotyping, disrespect for others’ beliefs, targeting the minorities, and so on. This is possibly the largest obstacle for the opposition o f violent Muslim extremists. We have put so much effort into tendering to the care of every single minority that we have lost
all common sense - could this micromanagement be the end of world order? It may not be a crisis yet, but it’s far from impossible. It’s
time for us to start looking outside the box and thinking about the big picture rather than catering to an absurd amount of requests to
ensure that no one gets their feelings hurt.
This is not an issue of religion - it is not an issue of Christians being any better than Muslims or Muslims any better than Christians -
this is murder, plain and simple, and no matter what the motivation is, no one should be allowed to get away with it because they are part of a minority.