Bill Maher highlights Christian persecution crisis in Nigeria on his show

When prominent religious skeptic and TV host Bill Maher addressed the plight of Christians in Nigeria during a meeting with South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace in September, he brought up a conversation that is an ongoing tension for many of us in the humanitarian sphere: Conflicts that cause the greatest suffering are not always associated with the greatest attention.

Speaking about the atrocities taking place in Nigeria, Mayer lamented about the program: “This is an attempt at genocide, much more than what’s going on in Gaza. They’re literally trying to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country. Where are the kids protesting this?”

Here’s the thing: The suffering of Gazans is legitimate. Just like the suffering Israel suffered on October 7, 2023 and afterwards is legitimate. So is the suffering in Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Nigeria. What is different is our attention and our willingness to confront the complexities and discomforts required to achieve lasting solutions.

I grew up in Niger. I spent my childhood in the Sahel region, at a time when a Christian in a Muslim-majority region could expect to live in relative peace and optimism. Growing up, I knew many mixed-faith Nigerian families who lived in harmony. As a nation and a region, we had hope. The promises of the green revolution, trade and the West African Economic community have led us to foresee a growth trajectory.

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The Nigeria of today is not like the Nigeria of my youth. Climate change, capitalism, debt, corruption, the COVID-19 crisis and changing donor trends have all led to more poverty, less hope and more conflict. It was tragic to see my hometown turn into a dangerous zone where extremism replaced tolerance, hope dissipated and hunger increased, while religion became a weapon to fill the remaining void.

We see extremism and religious persecution increase when people become desperate. Nigeria is divided almost by basic rules into Muslim-majority regions and Christian and Catholic sections. Factors from colonial days, combined with climate changes that made the nomadic lifestyle unsustainable, turned into indefensible hostility that eliminated religious affiliations.

Conflict arises when you layer religious overtones on top of an existing ethnic divide and intimidate sources, as Liam Karr of the Critical Threats Africa team, run in conjunction with the American Enterprise Institute, aptly argues.

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Being a Christian in Nigeria is no longer a simple matter. Jihadist organizations, including Boko Haram, have carried out religiously motivated murders in the last 16 years, killing 125,009 Christians and more than 60,000 “liberal” Muslims who did not share the extremist views of the dominant groups. During this time, 19,100 churches were looted. According to Open Doors, more Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world combined, even though Nigeria ranks 7th in the top 50 countries known for persecution of Christians.

In sub-Saharan Africa, 16.2 million Christians, including many Nigerians, were forced to flee their homes. For Nigerians, this often means living as displaced persons in Chad.

To change this, you need to combine hope with solutions that address the underlying causes of instability. At World Relief, we work in partnership with the church to meet both the material and spiritual needs of a population. This is the only solution in a multi-faith area. For social cohesion, trust, shared responsibility and sustainable peacebuilding, you cannot ignore neither the concrete nor the intangible.

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Unfortunately for an international audience that wants clear lines and quick fixes, this kind of work isn’t solved overnight. Our sisters and brothers in Christ deserve our continued care and support, whether in the Gaza Strip, Syria or the Sahel.

In the short term, we must provide access to additional human resources on the ground to mitigate some of the drivers of conflict. When factors lower in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are addressed first, higher-level conversations aimed at addressing religious tensions will be facilitated.

Jihadist organizations, including Boko Haram, have carried out religiously motivated murders in the last 16 years, killing 125,009 Christians and more than 60,000 “liberal” Muslims who did not share the extremist views of the dominant groups.

I am grateful for the attention US policymakers have shown to the situation in recent months; Resolutions passed in the House of Representatives in March include Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz introducing legislation and West Virginia Republican Representative Riley Moore calling on Secretary of State Marco Rubio this fall. All three advocate for the re-designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, and we are beginning to see some much-needed improvement.

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Additionally, the United States offers a unique environment to provide assistance to refugees who have a credible fear of persecution in the U.S. refugee resettlement program. During his first term, President Donald Trump became the first president to publicly state that religious persecution was key to those served through the program.

Due to the government shutdown, we are still awaiting the Presidential Order on Refugee Resettlement for Fiscal Year 2026, and I urge the president to consider populations, such as Christians in Nigeria, whose security can be assured through the resettlement quota of at least 50,000 that he set as a ceiling in 2017.

Chibok school girls rescued from Boko Haram captivity are seen on Sunday, May 7, 2017, in Abuja, Nigeria. (AP Photo/ Olamikan Gbemiga)

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It behooves us as U.S. media and information consumers to seek out news about our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. Newsrooms are responding to demand; As we turn our attention abroad, coverage will increase. Now more than ever, we need transparent eyes and ears to see situations where evil is at work in the darkness and the US church is uniquely poised to use its considerable influence to bring light into the darkness.

Finally, let us not stop lamenting and pleading with Christ on behalf of our sisters and brothers around the world. As the global church, we share in the sufferings of Christ just as we share in the sufferings of others. He is with those who are suffering and is not distracted.