Christians in Sub-Saharan Africa Face Persecution Amid U.S. Military Action

Millions of Christians across sub-Saharan Africa are spending Christmas under the shadow of persecution, with many viewing recent U.S. military strikes against Islamic State militants in Nigeria as a sign that global attention is finally turning to their plight.

An estimated 16 million Christians have been displaced across the region, forced from their homes amid escalating violence from Islamist militant groups. Despite the reported release of 130 kidnapped schoolchildren in Nigeria this week, fear continues to grip Christian communities attempting to worship during the holiday season.

The situation gained international prominence after Fox News Digital highlighted the crisis on multiple occasions throughout the year, eventually prompting responses from senior U.S. lawmakers including Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Chris Smith. President Donald Trump subsequently threatened to send American troops into Nigeria “guns-a-blazing” to halt the targeted killings of Christians.

“The militant Islamist onslaught across sub-Saharan Africa is a catastrophe of global proportions unfolding before us,” said Henrietta Blyth, CEO of Open Doors UK & Ireland, a charity supporting persecuted Christians. “The last year has seen a non-stop stream of reports from the region, including militant Islamist groups brutally attacking defenseless Christian communities.”

Despite increased awareness, Blyth noted, “There is no sign that this has abated in 2025.”

South Africa’s Chief Rabbi, Dr. Warren Goldstein, expressed frustration at what he sees as insufficient global response to the crisis. “The lack of global outrage and action on this issue is a moral disgrace,” he told Fox News Digital. “It seems as if black lives do not matter if they are murdered by Islamists in Africa.”

Goldstein placed the persecution within a broader geopolitical context: “It is part of a multi-continental jihadi war on the ‘infidels’—Jews and Christians—and on Western values. It is a world war, with Israel at the epicenter of the fire of the jihadi forces of Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and others. The Islamist war on Christians in Africa is another front of this world war that stretches from Sudan in the north to Mozambique in the South.”

Hotspots of Persecution

Nigeria

Africa’s most populous nation has experienced the worst persecution on the continent in 2025, according to Open Doors. The organization reported “non-stop stories of deadly attacks and kidnappings” across northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt region, with villages torched and citizens raped, abducted, shot, and beheaded.

Pope Leo XIV condemned killings attributed to Muslim Fulani tribesmen in Nigeria’s Benue State in June, saying, “Some 200 people were murdered, with extraordinary cruelty.”

Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, whose Makurdi Diocese in north-central Nigeria is predominantly Christian, testified at a congressional hearing in Washington in March about escalating attacks by Islamist Fulani militants. After returning to Nigeria, he reportedly received threats, and approximately 20 of his parishioners were killed.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Despite being 95% Christian, the DRC has seen targeted attacks against the faithful by jihadists. In February, terrorists linked to Islamic State’s Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), who seek to establish a Muslim caliphate in eastern DRC, reportedly rounded up 70 Christians and beheaded them in a church. A September attack saw at least 89 Christians allegedly killed by jihadists at a funeral and in surrounding fields.

Sudan

Sudan’s estimated 2 million Christians, comprising about 4% of the country’s population, face dual threats—chronic food shortages from the ongoing civil war and targeted discrimination from both sides of the conflict.

A senior Sudanese church leader told Fox News Digital that Christians in the Darfur city of El Fasher “are eating animal feed and grass. No wheat, no rice, nothing can get in.”

Cameroon

In Cameroon’s far north, Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province conduct regular overnight raids on villages, killing, abducting, and destroying property. Thousands have fled to displacement camps. One villager named Ali described the situation: “It never ends. I want it to end, but it doesn’t. We must sleep in the mountains for safety.”

Mozambique

In this southeastern African nation where Christians make up 55% of the population, Islamic State Mozambique has intensified attacks in the northern regions, targeting Christian communities, burning churches, and destroying homes. The violence has displaced more than 1.3 million people.

In October, militants reportedly killed 20 Christians and displaced approximately 2,000 during a mass attack on the village of Napala. A local pastor described how four elderly sisters were tied up and burned to death inside a house.

Mixed Response to Military Action

Regarding the U.S. airstrikes in Nigeria, Open Doors’ Henrietta Blyth cautioned against expecting quick solutions: “A military operation like this is not going to provide any sort of quick fix for decades of violence. The Nigerian government must pursue lasting solutions that ensure peace, protection of civilians and religious freedom for everyone.”

Rabbi Goldstein emphasized the need for unified response: “The West can only win this war if it can find the moral clarity to call it by its name and see all the theaters of war as part of the same fight.”

As Christmas celebrations continue across the region, millions of Christians remain vigilant, hoping that increased international attention will translate into meaningful protection for their communities in the face of persistent threats.