France's Jacques Hamel wasn't the only Christian leader killed this summer.
Last week, France buried Jacques Hamel, the 85-year-old Catholic priest murdered by Islamist extremists while celebrating mass on July 26. Thousands of people, including journalists from around the world, attended the funeral.
Three days earlier, another pastor was buried, also a victim of a terrorist attack. She was the second of two pastors murdered in Nigeria this summer. Their funerals were local; their deaths largely unnoticed by the media.
What pushed Hamel’s story onto Europe’s front pages was its location. Since the January 2015 mass shooting at the Charlie Hebdo magazine office in Paris, France has suffered nearly 240 deaths in more than 10 attacks by people claiming allegiance to ISIS. Though Christians were among the victims of those attacks, Hamel’s killing was the first to target Christians specifically, in a church.
“This tragic attack, so close to home and following other recent horrors, is another example of the persecution we see all too often in countries around the world,” stated Open Doors UK, the British arm of Open Doors, a global ministry that supports Christians who live under pressure because of their faith.
In its World Watch List 2016, Open Doors documented reports of more than 7,000 Christians killed and more than 2,400 churches attacked globally last year. (This interactive map provides some idea of the scope of the attacks.)
The killing of Christians in Nigeria rose 62 percent in 2015, mostly perpetrated by Boko Haram, Muslim Fulani herdsman, and Islamist extremism in the government, according to Open Doors. Nigeria is ranked No. 12 on Open Doors’ list of the world’s most dangerous locations for Christians.
This summer in Nigeria, Muslim youth attacked church …
