Christians in Nigeria are demanding more government protection from militant Muslims even as thousands have been slaughtered in recent attacks, largely in central and northern Nigeria.

A number of human rights groups also want help and intervention from the United Nations and the U.S., CBN News said. Last July 26, according to Continental News, 12 Christians were killed, three of them pastors, who died from beheading at the hands of the militant Islamic Boko Haram.

Boko Haram has also launched attacks on military bases. The violence, according to Continental News, started in Baruchi state in northeastern Nigeria, then spread out to the states of Kano in the northwest, Yobe in the north and Borno in the northeast.

Continental News reported that in the series of attacks churches were set afire and a number of Christians along with people of other faiths were abducted. Christians were also threatened with genocide if they did not convert to Islam.

The three pastors, Sabo Yukubu, Sylvester Akpan and George Orji were killed through decapitation as the extremists shouted “Allah Akbar.” They did this upon the order of the militant group’s leader, Mohammed Yusuf, whom authorities later killed, Continental News said.

Worst attack in years

CBN News said the worst attack in recent years took place on March 7 when militants attacked the village Dogo Nashawa at night, and massacred villagers while they were sleeping.

The victims were either hacked to death or burned alive in their homes, including children. Some 500 Christians were murdered in this way. CBN News said the militants wielded AK-47 rifles.

According to CBN News, in the past only bows, arrows and machetes were wielded by extremists, and the use of high powered weapons indicated a new level of war.

Last October, a Christian village was also attacked in the middle of the night and the assailants also had high powered weapons. Six people were killed and 21 houses were burned, CBN News said.

At the same time, no one has been prosecuted for thousands of deaths linked to terrorists, CBN noted.

CBN News said Central Nigeria is where the most recent attacks occurred, including the Plateau state which is a key battleground. Twelve of Nigeria’s northern states are under Shariah law.

Central Nigeria is a strategic area and poses a barrier to the rest of the country where extremists hope to impose Shariah law, CBN News said. Nigeria is also crucial as a nation because it is a strategically located country that can serve as a jumping point to spread Islam throughout Africa.

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The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, which millions of Christians believe is where Jesus was buried and rose from the dead, is in danger of being damaged by the expansion of a Muslim cemetery which is being built above the tomb. At the same time Golgotha, which many believe is the site where Jesus was crucified, may be covered by a minaret.

Garden Tomb director Richard Meryon said a 15-foot wall is being built above the tomb by the Islamic waqf which will involve pouring down hundreds of tons of concrete to expand a Muslim cemetery, CBN News said.

Meryon is concerned that with the number of Christians who visit the Tomb daily, in case of heavy rain, snow or tremors the wall could collapse killing up to 200 pilgrims and tourists. He also said the wall lacks a city permit and breaches three district building codes, CBN News reported.

By law any new structure should be built three feet away from an existing one, unless permission is granted, something the builders never requested of Meryon. “We have been in active discussion and I am now negotiating with them,” Meryon told CBN. “I cannot allow them to build this wall until they prove to me beyond all reasonable doubt that this wall is going to be safe.”

The Muslim cemetery’s spokesman admitted they have no license, but said wall is safe. A spokesman of the mayor’s office said they will check to see if the edifice is legal so that tourists can continue to come to Jerusalem, CBN News reported.

Over 250,000 Christians come to Jerusalem to see the Garden Tomb annually, one of two sites where it is believed that Jesus was buried and later resurrected. The other site, the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Sepulchre, is recognized by Syrian, Coptic, Abyssinian and Coptic Orthodox churches and the Roman Catholic Church.

The Garden Tomb is recognized by Protestants, Anglicans and others. Discovered in 1867, the site is consistent with biblical accounts that Jesus was crucified in Golgotha outside Jerusalem (Golgotha is beside the Garden Tomb) near a gate (the Garden Tomb is near the Damascus Gate) of the city and along a major thoroughfare, the Garden Tomb website said.

The bible also mentions a garden with a tomb inside, near the crucifixion site. The bible said the tomb, which was cut out of rock, belonged to the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea. It had a weeping chamber, burial chamber and was sealed with a rolling stone, plus a low doorway, a description that matches the Garden Tomb, according to the website.

Excavations also revealed a large cistern to irrigate a large garden, which indicated the site had belonged to a wealthy man. A wine press was also discovered that is believed to be from the late Second Temple Period, the website said.

Minaret over Golgotha

Meryon also reported diggings on top of Golgotha where many believe Jesus was crucified. “Golgotha is mentioned in John 19, where Jesus was led outside the city walls… into a place called Golgotha,” Meryon said to CBN News.

Meryon said that there has been a lot of dirt being laid above the rock of Golgotha. “I’ve known for some weeks that they were thinking of building a minaret up there,” Meryon told CBN News. “This is a very important Christian holy site, and we just want to live here in peace and provide this amazing opportunity for Christians all around the world to come here and continue to worship and be exposed to the gospel.”

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Christians in Zimbabwe are being mobilized to set the groundwork for national reconciliation and healing, even as the nation embarks on writing a new constitution.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said, “You can’t have healing without the church playing a very moral role, a leading role. I think it would be a misplacement of priorities to play the church as a political organization rather than as a spiritual organization which has an important place in a country where 80 percent are Christian,” CBN News said.

Zimbabwe will undergo a three-month outreach to gather input from the citizenry through a referendum on what the new constitution should contain, CBN said.

Alex Chisangco, who chairs the African Centre for Law and Justice, is among those working to mobilize Zimbabwean Christians to participate actively in the making of the new constitution. Chisango said, “This is really one of the greatest windows of opportunity,” CBN said.

Government officials have met with Chisango and Jordan Sekulow, director of international operations for the American Center of the ACLJ to further discuss the constitution process, CBN said.

The drafting of a new constitution is considered a good step forward after Zimbabwe had undergone years of unrest, inflation and political upheaval, CBN said.

While the economy seems to be stabilizing, unemployment nonetheless remains at 90 percent, and while government power is currently shared by two political parties, they are often at odds and the nation continues to be divided, CBN said.

Currently a Global Political Agreement is in force which has provided a framework of constitutional reforms that are necessary so that elections slated to follow the constitutional reforms will be credible and the political situation will be stable, All Africa said.

On one end there is President Mugabe, and on the other end, Prime Minister Tsvangirai. Mugabe would like elections to be held, even before any referendum is completed, and is resisting the involvement of South African Development Community in the process, VOA said.

Tsvangirai would like elections to be held after the referendum, and only if the conditions are compliant to ensure fair and free elections, monitored by the SADC, who are the guarantors of the GPA, VOA said.

Tsvangirai considers it a positive development that South African President Jacob Zuma’s report included the issue of Zimbawe’s election during the SADC summit, VOA said.

Chisango said, “We are ultimately the answer. We should not be part of the problem. Neither should we just sit there as part of the victims. But we should rise above the bitterness, rise above the wounds and woundedness, and actually become the solution,” CBN said.

Another Christian leader involved in the process is Shingi Munyeza, director of African Sun Limited. The owner of numerous hotel chains, Munyeza noted that if Zimbabwe focuses on its Christian majority population and galvanizes the spiritual element, the populace can be mobilized to further their own peace, CBN said.

Clean up programs

To boost the country’s self image, the ACLJ has launched a nationwide campaign where local churches, aid groups and government agencies are working together to rid the streets on trash, CBN said.

The effort is being coordinated by Joshua Chiweda of Revival Ministries International, who has also been meeting with churches to encourage their participation in rebuilding the country, CBN said.

Chiweda said, “Christianity is not just people going to church but it is a way of life which must be seen and must be a reflection of their daily practices,” CBN said.

Chisango said, “We believe that Zimbabwe ultimately will be a nation that will forgive,” CBN said.

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British columnist and former atheist, Peter Hitchens, has written a book about his conversion to Christianity.

Hitchens, a London Mail political columnist and former Marxist revolutionary, has penned “The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith.” The book has a different subtitle in the U.K., namely Why Faith is the Foundation of Civilization, the Washington Times said.

A Cain and Abel scenario has unfolded with Hitchens’ new faith. His older brother Christopher, who remains an atheist, and he have had heated public debates. Christopher has authored the tome God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, CBN News said.

Both brothers were raised in a Christian home with a devoutly Baptist grandfather. Their paternal grandmother, whom they never met, was Anglican. Peter said they had “an extremely religiously conscious household,” CBN News said.

Both brothers became Marxists but today Peter considers himself a conservative member of the Church of England. He attends a small church that still uses an “old prayer book,” the Washington Times said.

The brothers are estranged. Peter suggests that his brother is a “repressed seeker”. He hopes his brother “might one day arrive at some sort of acceptance that belief in God is not necessarily a character fault – and that religion does not poison everything,” the Washington Times said.

Peter said that when he was an atheist, “We were full of our own righteousness. We knew what was right. We knew we were right. We knew we were good. We defined our own goodness,” CBN News said.

He had no Christian friends at the time. “There is a lot of scorn in revolutionary socialism.  There’s a lot of scorn for the people who aren’t up for it. There is a lot of scorn for the people who are opposed to it. There’s a feeling that you are the vanguard and you know best, and everyone else is ignorant and stupid,” CBN News said.

“You see that scorn in the new atheists, in the way they treat their opponents – not with any kind of respect at all. They still act as if Christianity is a kind of stupid aberration that only an idiot could follow,”    CBN News said.

Peter’s return to Christian faith took place in stages through the years. There was a time he remembers distinctly when he genuinely felt a fear of God though he was still an atheist. He was looking at Rogier van der Weyden’s painting, The Last Judgment, depicting the terror of Hell. ”One of them was actually vomiting with fright,” Hitchens told CBN News.

At that point, Peter feared for himself. “One of my reasons for my change is that I am scared. But then again, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Ironically, after the CBN interview it was learned that Christopher Hitchens had been diagnosed with cancer, CBN News said.

The Washington Times has speculated, “If Christopher turns out to be right, he won’t be able to tell his brother, “I told you so.” And if he’s wrong, well, he probably won’t be in any mood to admit it.”

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