‘Your Land or Your Blood’: Over 1,000 Christians Estimated Killed in Nigeria in 2019

‘Your Land or Your Blood’: Over 1,000 Christians Estimated Killed in Nigeria in 2019


A nonprofit recently released a report estimating that over 1,000 Nigerian Christians have been killed this year in attacks led by Fulani extremists.

“Islamist Fulani militia continue to engage in an aggressive and strategic land grabbing policy in Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Southern Kaduna and parts of Bauchi state,” HART, a UK-based nonprofit that tracks persecutions, reported, according to the Christian Post. “They attack rural villages, forces villagers off their lands and settle in their place—a strategy that is epitomized by the phrase: ‘your land or your blood.’”

Though the death toll is currently unknown, Christians have become a target for Fulani herdsman. HART estimates that over 6,000 Christians have been killed since 2015 while 12,000 have been displaced. These numbers were based on Kaduna state government reports, media reports, and news from community leaders in Plateau state. Though Fulani herdsmen seem to be the major perpetrators, the terrorist group Boko Haram has also killed several Christians in Borno state.

“In every village, the message from local people is the same: ‘Please, please help us! The Fulani are coming. We are not safe in our own homes,’” the report said.

Fulani are largely Muslim nomadic people who live across West and Central Africa. Feuds between the farmers and herdsmen have become more commonplace as land becomes…

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Youth Pastor Arrested for ‘Sexual Battery’ after Slapping News Reporter in the Rear

Youth Pastor Arrested for ‘Sexual Battery’ after Slapping News Reporter in the Rear


A man who was caught on camera slapping the behind of a female TV reporter has been arrested. Thomas Callaway, a youth minister from Statesboro, Georgia was caught on camera assaulting news reporter Alex Bozarjian as he ran past her during the Dec. 7 Savannah Bridge Run 10K.

Commenting on the widely-shared footage, Bozarjian tweeted: “To the man who smacked my butt on live TV this morning: You violated, objectified, and embarrassed me. No woman should EVER have to put up with this at work or anywhere!! Do better.” The video has since been viewed over 12 million times.

To the man who smacked my butt on live TV this morning: You violated, objectified, and embarrassed me. No woman should EVER have to put up with this at work or anywhere!! Do better. https://t.co/PRLXkBY5hn

— Alex Bozarjian (@wsavalexb) December 7, 2019

Callaway, who can be seen veering off course in order to reach the journalist, reportedly slapped and grabbed the reporter’s buttocks. He has since been arrested and charged with sexual battery after Bozarjian filed a police report against him last week.

“The conduct displayed toward Alex Bozarjian during her live coverage of Saturday’s Savannah Bridge Run was reprehensible and completely unacceptable,” Bozarjian’s employer WSAV-TV said after the arrest, according to Fox News. “No one should ever be disrespected in this manner. The safety and…

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Critics Give Rave Reviews to Off-Broadway Play The Gospel of John

Critics Give Rave Reviews to Off-Broadway Play The Gospel of John


The off-Broadway play “The Gospel of John” is being called one of the “best Christmas shows” in New York City this Christmas season.

According to the Christian Post, the play was created by award-winning Broadway actor Ken Jennings. Jennings, who starred in “Sweeney Todd,” “Grand Hotel” and “Side Show,” also stars in “The Gospel of John.”

The show is a 90-minute solo performance of the book of John.

“I memorized this first as a prayer, not as a play,” Jennings said in a statement shared with The Christian Post. “I started memorizing ‘The Gospel of John’ as a spiritual practice during a difficult time in my life. I’ve always had an affinity for John, which has always seemed to truly be a firsthand narrative by a man who was actually there.”

Since its opening night at the end of the November, the play has drawn praises.

“Plays can bring spiritual solace,” the New York Times said in its review. “On the unadorned stage, two flights below Bleecker Street, the actor Ken Jennings had only a single prop: a compact Bible. When theater is a religious experience, faith has a powerful role.”

Time Out New York said it was “one of the best Christmas shows in NYC this holiday season.”

“‘The Gospel of John,’ directed by John Pietrowski, tells the eyewitness account of the Apostle John and his life with Jesus,” the review said. “Jennings performs John’s…

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School Broke Law by Banning Fellowship of Christian Athletes over Marriage Definition, ADF Says

School Broke Law by Banning Fellowship of Christian Athletes over Marriage Definition, ADF Says


A Montana high school violated federal law and practiced religious discrimination last month when it revoked the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ status as a school-sponsored club, a religious liberty legal group says.

Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter Dec. 11 to Bozeman High School, threatening a lawsuit if the school does not reinstate FCA as a school-sponsored club by Dec. 18. 

The school revoked FCA’s official status in November after several students raised concerns over the national organization’s stance on the definition of marriage. FCA’s statement of faith says “God instituted marriage between one man and one woman as the foundation of the family and the basic structure of human society.” FCA’s adult leaders are required to support the statement and a code of conduct that affirms a biblical definition of sexuality.

“Your actions violate federal law under the Equal Access Act and ignore 30-year Supreme Court precedent protecting the rights of religious student clubs to be treated equally with other student clubs,” the ADF letter says. “Refusing to recognize FCA as a school-sponsored club because of its religious mission and denying it the same privileges as other non-curricular clubs is illegal.”

The high school currently recognizes 34 clubs, including the Environmental Awareness Club, the Sexuality and Gender Alliance,…

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Kanye West Debuts New Opera Show, Mary, in Miami

Kanye West Debuts New Opera Show, Mary, in Miami


Kanye West debuted his opera show, Mary, this weekend at the Marine Stadium in Miami as a follow up to “Nebuchadnezzar,” his first opera production in Los Angeles, according to the Christian Post.

Clad in silver, West’s Sunday Service Choir members graced the stage, singing while Kanye told the story of Jesus. The opera detailed the traditional nativity story, highlighting Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in a manger in 12 scenes. The choir also sang the Christmas songs “Gloria in Excelsis Deo,” “Little Drummer Boy,” and “O Holy Night.” The Miami Stadium stage perches on a Virginia Key inlet while the audience watches from dry ground.

“Over 300 prophecies in the Scripture described the coming of the Savior,” West said. “Jesus Christ fulfilled them all. One prophecy, in particular, declared the sign of His coming to be marked by a voice, a voice that would prepare the hearts of the people of Israel for the Messiah.” The rapper-turned-Christian also read from Luke 1:5 and Matthew 1:20. He was only on the stage for a few moments before jumping onto a speedboat at the end of the performance.

According to Vanity Fair, tickets for the one-time show sold out within 24 hours at $200 each. Kanye announced the show on Twitter Thursday evening for the Sunday afternoon show on the final day of Art Basel, a gathering of artists.

Chance the Rapper, a musician who has professed to a relationship with…

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How an Essex church is using hidden pebbles to invite people to a carol service

When someone finds one they are meant to put a photo on social media and say where they found it and then keep it until 22nd December, where everyone who found one comes together at the church for their carol service, ‘Jesus Rocks Celebration’.

So far around 30-40 have been posted publicly on social media, including a nurse who has found one near work, a child who found one outside the school gates and a woman who found one on her 5:30am dog walk.

 

 

Tom Vernon, the minister at Earls Hall Baptist Church, told Premier Christian Radio’s News Hour: “We’d been seeking for ways to engage our community…Jesus Rocks is part of our recognition that Jesus is moving in peoples’ minds and hearts before we have said anything.

The idea was that those who find one “stop for a second and think about and wonder who Jesus really is” he said.

“The opportunity for the church is to recognise that God is already at work in the lives of people who’ve maybe never thought about Jesus or not thought about Jesus since primary school”.

 

It was planned by children and families worker Katie Stanton and a team of people painted over 850 pebbles, after which they lost count, with acrylic paint and varnish.

The church website is on the…

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Hallmark Channel Stands by Same-Sex Wedding Ad, Promises LGBT Characters in Programs

Hallmark Channel Stands by Same-Sex Wedding Ad, Promises LGBT Characters in Programs


The Hallmark Channel on Sunday stood by commercials depicting same-sex couples and said it would work with a gay media group to “better represent the LGBTQ community” in its programs – although one day earlier, the network had pledged to pull the ads.

On Saturday, a Hallmark spokesperson said the channel would pull Zola commercials depicting two women kissing, telling a reporter, “We don’t want to generate controversy; we’ve tried very hard to stay out of it.” Hallmark was responding to a petition from One Million Moms opposing the ad. It garnered 30,000 signatures. 

But the decision to pull the ad sparked its own controversy, including opposition from talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, who tweeted, “Isn’t it almost 2020? @hallmarkchannel, @billabbottHC … what are you thinking? Please explain. We’re all ears.” DeGeneres is lesbian.

Actor William Shatner also got involved, tweeting that his “2.5 million” followers “and my friends” would oppose Hallmark’s move. One Million Moms, he said, was “NOT a majority here.” 

“Both me and my followers watch your shows … Do the right thing,” he wrote.

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New report finds 1,000 Christians killed in Nigeria this year

The report by The Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) found that 1,000 Christians have been killed since January 2019 and estimate that more than 6,000 Christians have died since 2015.

The charity has named Islamist Fulani militia the cause of all these tragic deaths in the report entitled “Your Land Or Your Blood”.

Baroness Caroline Cox, founder and CEO of the organisation told Premier’s News Hour it’s an extremely dire situation that has been escalating for about three years.

“Fulani who have been attacking the Christian villages and land grab, and they attack, they burn, they kill, they carry out atrocities, they drive the Christians off their land,” she said.

“And that’s why it’s ‘your land’, you give us or ‘we will kill you’, and it’s your blood. It’s been happening on a huge scale, and one of the terrifying things is not just killings, but it’s the most murderous atrocities, which are designed to drive people off their land because of terrorism.”

The report, which details the escalating persecution and displacement of Christians in northern and central Nigeria, found that Christian pastors and community heads are specifically targeted and hundreds of churches have been destroyed.

Baroness Cox told Premier’s News Hour the government has been inactive in the situation.

“There are thousands and thousands of people who have been driven off the land with these terrible atrocities taking place. They’re just displaced people.

“The government seems to do…

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Militants in Kenya Kill at Least 9 Christians for Being Unable to Recite Islamic Creed

Militants in Kenya Kill at Least 9 Christians for Being Unable to Recite Islamic Creed


Militants are believed to have killed a group of Christians in Kenya.

According to Faithwire, International Christian Concern, a persecution watchdog group, says the group of Christians were traveling in a passenger bus when they were stopped.

 “A passenger bus belonging to Medina Bus Company, traveling between Wajir and Mandera was attacked by a criminal gang at around 1730 hours this evening,” a local Kenyan police officer told ICC. “The attack happened at Maadathe area, five kilometers to Kotulo. Lives are believed to have been lost.”

Militants stopped the group while they were heading to the northeastern city of Mandera when militants stopped the bus and separated the passengers into locals and non-locals. The nine passengers who could not recite the Shahada, the Muslim profession of faith, were taken off the bus and shot at point-blank range. Two passengers are missing.

“I am deeply saddened to learn of the heinous bus attack near Kotulo, Wajir today around 5:00 p.m. where 10 passengers were killed [or are missing],” said the governor of Mandera, Ali Roba, on Facebook. “I am informed that the suspected al-Shabaab fighters cowardly segregated non-locals heading to Mandera from Nairobi. It is extremely sad and humanly disturbing to learn that, yet again, they segregated locals from non-locals before killing those they believed to be non-locals.”

Police…

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Homosexuality, science and #metoo ‘have their roots in Christianity claims best selling historian

he popular historian made the comments as part of a lively online debate on whether Christianity gave the West its human values with British philosopher and author, A.C. Grayling.

During an often-times heated conversation, Grayling challenged Holland to name one thing that Christianity had introduced that doesn’t have a secular source. Holland responded emphatically, “I think the ideal of lifelong matrimony, I think that is a very distinctive Christian concept. I think the category of what, by the 19th century, is coming to be categorised as homosexuality and heterosexuality – I think they have no precedence. I think the notion of secularism – the idea of there being religions – I think all these are entirely exclusive to Christian civilisation. I think the concept of science as it emerges in the 19th century, I think is entirely exclusive to Christian civilisation.”

The conversation is the latest episode to be released as part of The Big Conversation debate series, moderated by Unbelievable? host, Justin Brierley. The focus of the episode was to explore the impact of Christianity on contemporary society, as Holland unpacks in his new book Dominion.

Holland continued, “…even Anthony, this dogged atheist, who rejects the fact that he owes anything to Christianity, his assumptions about homosexuality and heterosexuality are so deeply rooted, that he assumes that a man sleeping with a man is equivalent to the category of homosexuality –…

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