Persecuted Christians

VIDEO: Dede Laugesen Warns U.S. Lawmakers on the 'Open-air Auschwitz' Operating in Nigeria's Rijana Forest

Persecuted Christians — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 22:47:22 GMT

Last week on Capitol Hill, Dede Laugesen, president of Save the Persecuted Christians, warned lawmakers on the “open-air Auschwitz” operating in Rijana forest.

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Rijana forest is an area of dense forestation and brush that conceals terrorist hostage camps operated by Fulani militias in close proximity to known Nigerian military installations where kidnap-for-ransom victims are tortured, starved and often murdered whether ransom is paid or not.

Nigerian officials must be pressured to clear these terror dens and free the captives. Nothing will improve for Christians until the industrial-scale, widespread, kidnapping campaigns are disrupted.

On Sunday, in a coordinated attack on three churches, 160+ Christians were taken captive and hauled off into Rijana forest.

Please pray for their safe return. Please share this so more can be done to SET THE CAPTIVES FREE.

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“It was an honor to give remarks on Capitol Hill last week on the Genocide of Christians in Nigeria,” said Laugesen. “Many don’t know about the hostage camps in Rijana forest where kidnap-for-ransom victims are tortured and starved until a ransom is paid, or killed. Kidnapping has become an indusrty that is bankrupting entire Christian communities and forcing them off their lands and out of their homes. Millions upon millions are affected and made destitute by Fulani militant gangs raising money to support more terror. In essence, Christians are being forced to fund the terror that haunts them day and night.

“They raised money, paid the ransom, and were told to come collect their pastor’s body,” a family representative said at the time. “He was killed simply for being a man of God.”

Widow of Anglican Cleric and Child Freed after Brutal Murder

By News Desk | January 16, 2026

Sarah Achi and daughter after release | Photo Credit: ACCN | Facebook.

Fulani Ethnic Killers Taunting Authorities: Expert

Ransom was paid, the priest was executed, the hostages were held for weeks afterward, and no arrests have been announced.

By Mary Kiara

(Kaduna) – After 78 days in captivity, the wife and daughter of an Anglican priest murdered by his abductors have been released in northern Nigeria, according to family members and church officials. They are receiving medical care. No official explanation has been provided for their release, and no arrests have been announced.

Sarah Achi and her daughter were freed late Wednesday, January 15, 2026, ending a kidnapping that began with the execution of their husband and father, Venerable Edwin Achi, Priest-in-Charge of Ebenezer Anglican Church, Ungwan Maijero, in Kaduna State.

READ THE FULL STORY AT TRUTHNIGERIA.COM

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Bring the Children Home this Christmas

Persecuted Christians — Sun, 21 Dec 2025 19:29:57 GMT

Credits: Martha Hudson and Oleg Atbashian

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Dedicated to over 250 children abducted by Islamist militants from a Catholic boarding school in Nigeria.

UPDATE: The terrorists stormed the school on Nov. 21, 2025 at about 9:30 a.m., taking 303 students and 12 teachers. Fifty hostages escaped within hours, leaving 265 in captivity. With 100 freed, as of December 8, and another 115 reportedly freed as of today, December 21, it seems 50 remain missing including 12 adults.

The Nigerian government often holds onto recovered children for a period of time before they release them to their parents or guardians. Save the Persecuted Christians will remain sceptical of these reports until the children are actually home and independent journalists confirm their arrival and condition.

Please keep praying.

Even should ALL of these children come home, many other children remain in hostage camps across Nigeria — camps often located near to military installations and police garrisons. We will not be silent until all of Nigeria’s missing children are home where they should be with their parents celebrating Christmas in peace.

Please share this song with your families and friends this Christmas as we labor to remember these precious persecuted souls this Christmas.

Lyrics and chords can be found at our website here. https://savethepersecutedchristians.org/bring-the-children-home-this-christmas-original-music-video/

CHRISTMAS MATCHED GIVING

About Save the Persecuted Christians

Save the Persecuted Christians is a grassroots movement dedicated to raising awareness and mobilizing action to aid Christians and other religious minorities facing persecution worldwide. Through advocacy, education, and partnerships, the organization works to influence policy and provide direct support to those in need. Learn more at SaveThePersecutedChristians.org.

TERRORISMS IMPACT ON EDUCATION

Terrorism in Nigeria, driven primarily by groups like Boko Haram and armed bandits, has severely disrupted education, leading to plummeting school attendance rates, particularly in the northern regions. Frequent attacks on schools, mass kidnappings, and pervasive insecurity have forced widespread closures, with over 1,680 schoolchildren abducted between 2014 and 2023, resulting in at least 180 deaths and the destruction of 25 school buildings.

This has instilled fear among parents, who often keep children at home, contributing to high out-of-school rates—such as 72% of children in Borno State never having attended school and only 61% of 6-11-year-olds regularly attending primary school in the North West. Recent data from 2024-2025 indicates that in states like Kebbi, 67% of girls and 62% of boys are not enrolled in primary school, exacerbated by ongoing abductions, including the November 2025 incident involving over 300 students in Niger State. Additionally, insecurity has led to teacher shortages, with over 600 educators killed and 19,000 displaced, further straining educational access.

Perceptions from parents, teachers, and students underscore the psychological impact, with all groups reporting that insurgency causes irregular attendance, dropouts, and relocations due to fears of bombings, abductions, and assassinations. In Bauchi and Kaduna states, official primary attendance rates stand at 38.6% and 66.5%, respectively, influenced by factors such as distance, fees, and cultural barriers, and compounded by terrorism-related disruptions, including school suspensions and infrastructure damage.

Overall, these dynamics have positioned Nigeria with one of the world’s highest numbers of out-of-school children, hindering long-term societal progress and increasing vulnerability to further extremism.

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’Tis the Season for Sharia’s Jihad: New Report Offers A “Second Opinion” on Upcoming Official One

Persecuted Christians — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 23:33:55 GMT

BanTheBrotherHood.com

WASHINGTON, D.C.— ’Tis the season for celebrating traditions of the great Abrahamic faiths. Christmas markets and Hannukah parties. Increasingly, however, adherents to sharia – which is actually not a religion, let alone one the Bible’s Abraham would embrace – are emulating Mohammed’s jihad against Christians and Jews.

It’s a reasonable bet that those jihadis are inspired – if not actually enabled – by the Muslim Brotherhood or its myriad allies, front groups, “chapters” and “subdivisions.” So are others pursuing in pre-violent ways what President Trump calls “civilization erasure.”

Consequently, President Trump has to decide if he’ll do nationally what Texas and Florida’s governors have done in their states, namely, ban the Brotherhood. He’s asked his Secretaries of State and Treasury to advise him. Today, our Victory Coalition is, too, with a report called, The Choice: “Ban the Brotherhood” or Face “Civilization Erasure” Here.

PDF "The Choice"

The Choice draws on an extraordinary analysis conducted fifteen years ago by an eminent group of national security practitioners and other patriots known as “Team B II.” Their report was sponsored by the Center for Security Policy and entitled, Sharia: The Threat to America. It powerfully refuted that era’s prevailing official view that the Muslim Brotherhood “eschewed violence” and therefore was moderate and a natural ally in the so-called “War on Terror” and the “violent extremists” waging it against us. Unfortunately, that view continues largely to guide U.S. policy today.

With the benefit of hindsight, however, it is clear that Team B II was right: The Muslim Brotherhood fully embraces sharia with its emphasis on achieving the global caliphate, through violent conquest wherever possible. Only in those instances where such jihad might prove counterproductive do the Brotherhood and its affiliates opt for other, not so much non-violent but pre-kinetic and often stealthy techniques to advance the same goal.

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By responding so incompetently to the actual, present and growing danger posed by the Muslim Brotherhood, its proxies and allies, willfully blind officials are actually inducing the sharia-supremacists to perceive that the realization of their pursuit of “civilization erasure” of the West and global domination is at hand. That perception requires them doctrinally to redouble their efforts decisively and violently to conquer their infidel enemies.

The Choice reprises Team B’s findings about sharia and its operationalization by the Muslim Brotherhood, together with insights from a powerful Victory Coalition briefing on December 12, 2025, to address responsibly and impactfully current and very real threats to our form of government and people emanating from the Muslim Brotherhood and its enablers in Qatar and Turkey. The Victory Coalition is a coalition partner at Save the Persecuted Christians, one of over 200 groups aligned with our mission.

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The bottom line is that we must jettison the irresponsible policies of the past – including such practices as: officials embracing Brotherhood leaders and organizations; ignoring the ideological character and implications of sharia; focusing exclusively, and, at best, episodically, on violent actions, but remaining willfully blind to their true jihadist motivations; etc. – in favor of more realistic and far more effective approaches.

Learn more about The Choice and such approaches for free at BantheBrotherhood.org.

Trump’s “Choice”: The Most Important National Security Decision of His 2^nd Presidency

Ban the Brotherhood or Face “Civilization Erasure” Here

11:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m. ET
Friday, December 19, 2025

About Save the Persecuted Christians

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LEAH, DID YOU KNOW?

Persecuted Christians — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 17:41:15 GMT

Credits: Dede Laugesen and Oleg Atbashian
Lyrics and chords can be found at our website here.

WASHINGTON, DC — This song is dedicated to #LeahSharibu, who at 14 on February 19, 2018, was abducted at a science and technology school for girls in the town of Dapchi, in Yobe State, Nigeria, with 109 other students, five of whom died on the way to the terrorist hideout.

Leah repeatedly stared down the terrorists and refused to renounce her Christian faith.

Friends, held in captivity with Leah, said that every time the terrorists with their guns demanded, “Who here is a Christian?” Leah’s arm would shoot up even as her peers tried to force it down.

A month later, all the living captives were released save Leah.

Leah was kept as “a slave for life” because of her Christian faith, while the other young captives were released due to government negotiations with ISWAP. The terrorists said, “Based on our doctrines, it is now lawful for us to do whatever we want to do with her.”

Leah, still held today is reportedly married off to an ISWAP commander and is being forced to bear him children. Accounts of her fearless faith have encouraged millions of Christians facing extreme persecution.

Save the Persecuted Christians, along with Hon. Frank R. Wolf and ICON, brought Leah’s mom, Rebecca, to Washington, DC, to plead for her rescue.

Many human rights advocates believe the Nigerian government knows where Leah is kept but has not moved to rescue her. Leah is one of thousands of Christian women and girls held hostage in camps, sold as slaves, or forcibly “married” to jihadists.

“The genocide of Christians in Nigeria has been a terrible cross to bear for the women and children. We must do all we can to bring them home,” said Dede Laugesen, president of Save the Persecuted Christians.

Please pray for her rescue as we seek to help her come home again!

Share this song to keep her story alive.

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Gloria Puldu, President, The Leah Foundation

Save the Persecuted Christians has worked for years with Gloria Puldu, president of The Leah Foundation, to keep fresh the story of Leah Sharibu and all the women and girls of Nigeria who suffer at the hands of Islamists. We recently arranged for Ms. Puldu to appear on “The Faulkner Focus” with Harris Faulkner as part of our mission to educate Americans on the brutal realities of Christian persecution globally and to help its victims have a voice in the West.

Dr. Gloria Samdi Puldu, President of The Leah Foundation in Nigeria with Dede Laugesen, President of Save the Persecuted Christians

STATISTICS ON NIGERIAN SCHOOL ABDUCTIONS

More than 2,000 Nigerian students have been kidnapped in mass school abductions by terrorists (primarily Boko Haram) or bandits since the 2014 Chibok incident, though exact figures vary due to inconsistent reporting and multiple incidents.

A 2023 Save the Children report documented 1,683 schoolchildren kidnapped since the Chibok abduction of 276 girls.
Major incidents since then include approximately 287 students in Kaduna (March 2024), 25 girls in Kebbi (November 2025, later released), and over 300 (303 students plus staff) from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niger state (November 2025).
Adding these and smaller cases pushes the total above 2,000. Earlier 2025 reports citing 1,400–1,500 likely reflect pre-2024/2025 data.

Several hundred students remain in captivity overall, though most victims from bandit-led kidnappings are eventually released after ransoms (often paid privately despite bans).

From Chibok (2014): About 82 girls remain missing as of the latest Amnesty International update in 2024, with no reported changes in 2025.
From the November 2025 St. Mary’s abduction: Initially 315 taken (303 students, 12 staff); ~50 escaped soon after, and 100 were released by early December, leaving approximately 165 still held as of mid-December 2025.
Victims from most other incidents (e.g., Dapchi 2018, Kankara 2020, Kaduna 2024) have been released or rescued, with rare exceptions involving deaths or individuals retained (often for ideological reasons in Boko Haram cases).

These figures come from cross-referenced reports by UNICEF, Amnesty International, Save the Children, BBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters, and others. School abductions have surged in northern Nigeria due to banditry for ransom and lingering jihadist activity, though many cases resolve through negotiations rather than rescues.

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Prevent “Civilization Erasure” in America: Start by Banning the Brotherhood

Persecuted Christians — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 16:06:25 GMT

Hello friends of persecuted Christians!

Thank you for your heart for the persecuted. One of our Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC) coalition partners, The Victory Coalition, is hosting a very important program today on the importance of President Trump’s move to ban the Muslim Brotherhood.

Part of our mission at STPC is to elevate our coalition partners and all they are doing to promote the cause of religious freedom, to protect and defend the persecuted and to hold the perpetrators accountable for their crimes.

Join the Victory Coalition webinar today and get informed on the greatest threat to Western Civilization and what you and others can do to ensure its survival and that of America, the land that we love. Information on how to register is below.

With trust in Jesus!
Dede

About Save the Persecuted Christians
Save the Persecuted Christians is a grassroots movement dedicated to raising awareness and mobilizing action to aid Christians and other religious minorities facing persecution worldwide. Through advocacy, education, and partnerships, the organization works to influence policy and provide direct support to those in need. Learn more at SaveThePersecutedChristians.org.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— President Trump’s new National Security Strategy has offended Europeans with its warning that they face “the prospect of civilizational erasure.” While several reasons for that dire prognosis are offered, the key one appears to be “migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife.”

Unsaid, but clearly a factor in erasing Western civilization in Europe, is the rising aggressiveness of Islamic immigrants increasingly under the influence of, and weaponized by, the Muslim Brotherhood and other sharia-supremacists financed by Qatar and enabled by Turkey.

Unfortunately, similar forces are working to erase civilization in this country, as well. The Trump administration is expected shortly to decide whether to join Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida in effectively banning the Muslim Brotherhood.

The next Victory Coalition briefing from 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. ET tomorrow will address: the determination of the Muslim Brotherhood – and the countless millions under its considerable influence – to erase Western civilization and impose in its place Islam’s barbaric, totalitarian sharia code; the progress being made to that end in Europe and here; corrective actions taken in Texas and Florida, respectively, by Govs. Abbott and DeSantis to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and its most prominent front group, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) as what they are: foreign terrorist organizations; and the urgent need for President Trump to do the same. Register to participate at VictoryCo.org.

Join us in encouraging President Trump to protect our constitutional Republic and defend Western civilization at BantheBrotherhood.org.

What: A Webinar about the Threat of “Civilization Erasure” in Europe and America and the Imperative Need to Designate the Muslim Brotherhood and C.A.I.R. as Terrorist Organizations

When: 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. ET on Friday, December 12th.

Who:

Moderator:

Frank Gaffney, President, Institute for the American Future; Member, Victory Coalition; Briefing Co-sponsor; host, “Securing America”

Panelists:

Lt. Cmdr./Dr. David Wurmser, PhD, U.S. Navy (Ret.), former Middle East advisor to an Under Secretary of State, National Security Advisor and Vice President of the United States; naval intelligence veteran; Director, Middle East Program, Center for Security Policy

Robert Spencer, Executive Director, JihadWatch.org; Shillman Fellow, David Horowitz Freedom Center; author of thirty-two books including most recently, Intifada on the Hudson: The Selling of Zohran Mamdani (Invited)

Peter McIlvenna, Podcaster, Hearts of Oak; staff assistant to Lord Malcolm Pearson, Member of the U.K. House of Lords; freedom-fighter

Charles “Sam” Faddis, retired career Clandestine Service Operative, Central Intelligence Agency; Army veteran; former Assistant Attorney-General for Washington State, author among works of Beyond Repair: The Decline and Fall of the CIA

David Yerushalmi, Esq., Co-founder and Senior Counsel, American Freedom Law Center; co-author, Sharia: The Threat to America; original drafter of model legislation known as “American Laws for American Courts” (Invited)

Trevor Loudon, author of, among other works: The Enemy Within, Security Risk Senators and House UnAmericans; podcaster; essayist; and Senior Fellow, Institute for the American Future (Invited)

Hon. George Rasley, Managing Editor, ConservativeHQ.org; former advisor to a U.S. Vice President and several federal legislators; veteran of over 300 political campaigns (Invited)

Sponsor: The Victory Coalition’s mission is to focus on the need for victory over those determined to impose Sharia – whether by violent jihad or the stealthy, subversive kind – on Americans here at home and on their friends and allies in the Middle East and beyond.

Faith Leaders and Advocates Decry Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Omission of Mark Walker from Critical Confirmation Hearing

Persecuted Christians — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 22:50:53 GMT

Washington, DC – December 11, 2025 – A coalition of prominent faith leaders and organizations dedicated to supporting persecuted religious communities worldwide today expressed profound disappointment over the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s decision not to include President Trump’s nominee, former Congressman Mark Walker, for U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom in today’s confirmation hearing. Despite an urgent letter sent to Chairman James E. Risch on December 9, 2025, highlighting the nominee’s qualifications and the pressing need for leadership amid global religious freedom crises, Walker’s nomination was notably absent from the agenda—again.

The letter, signed by dozens of influential figures including pastors, advocates, and heads of international organizations, emphasized Walker’s proven track record as a bipartisan champion for human rights and religious liberty. Nominated in April 2025, Walker—a former U.S. Representative and pastor—is still in limbo, leaving a critical vacancy at a time when persecuted Christians and other religious minorities face escalating threats globally. The signatories argued that confirming Walker would enable swift action on President Trump’s priorities to defend religious freedom and persecuted Christians globally and integrate foreign assistance functions following the closure of USAID.

Dede Laugesen, President of Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC) and lead signatory, stated: “We are deeply disheartened that Chairman Risch has not yet taken up Walker’s hearing. The prolonged vacancy in the Office of International Religious Freedom undermines America’s commitment to protecting one of its foundational freedoms abroad. Chairman Risch and the Committee had a clear opportunity to advance this vital nomination in the final hearing of the year, and their failure to do so sends a troubling signal amid ongoing global crises like the genocide of Christians in Nigeria. We urge the Senate to prioritize Walker’s confirmation without further delay to ensure effective U.S. advocacy for the persecuted.”

The STPC coalition pointed to the significant restructuring at the U.S. Department of State, including the integration of foreign aid, as a pivotal moment requiring confirmed leadership. A Senate-confirmed Ambassador-at-Large would provide essential direction under the International Religious Freedom Act, fostering engagement with foreign governments and robust policy implementation.

Other signatories echoed the sentiment, stressing the urgency:

Bob Fu, President of China Aid: “In regions like China, where religious persecution is rampant, delays in leadership cost lives. Mark Walker’s expertise is needed now more than ever.”
Nina Shea, Senior Fellow and Director of Hudson’s Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute: “This omission is a missed opportunity to reaffirm America’s role as a global defender of religious liberty.”
Hon. Frank Wolf, retired Congressman (VA): “I’ve seen firsthand the impact of strong advocacy for the persecuted. Confirming Walker would honor that legacy and protect vulnerable communities worldwide.”

The full list of signatories includes:

Dr. Oluwasayo Ajiboye, President, Mission Africa International
Karmella Borashan, Chair, Office of Advocacy and Government Relations, Assyrian Parliament
Daniel Emig, Consultant, Frontier Partners International
Bob Fu, President, China Aid
Frank Gaffney, President, Institute for the American Future
Ellen Grigsby, Strategic Relationships Dir., Frontline’s International
Suzanne Grishman, Executive Director, Mercury One and The Nazarene Fund
Lauren Homer, President, Law and Liberty Trust
Martha Hudson, Senior Advisor for MENA, Near East Center for Strategic Engagement
Dr. Charles Jacobs, President, Jewish Leadership Project
Rev. Kevin Jessip, President, Global Strategic Alliance
Eric Metaxas, Host, The Eric Metaxas Show
Faith McDonnell, Director of Advocacy, Katartismos Global
Greg Mitchell, Founder & CEO, IRF Secretariat
Jennifer Noyes, Executive Director, New Wineskins Missions Network
Michael Parks, President/CEO, Frontier Partners International
Dr. Jorge Parrott, President, Christ’s Mandate for Missions
Judd Saul, President, Equipping the Persecuted
Ann Schockett, Past President, Advisor, Board Member, National Federation of Republican Women
Nina Shea, Senior Fellow and Director of Hudson’s Center for Religious Freedom, Hudson Institute
Mike Ramirez, Retired, San Antonio Patriots
Mark Singer, Organizer-Leader, Moral Action Ministry
Patricia Streeter, Co-Leader, Anglican Persecuted Church Network
Nadine Maenza, Co-Chair, IRF Roundtable
Hon. Frank Wolf, Congressman (VA) retired, U.S. House of Representatives
Elizabeth Yore, Attorney and Founder, Yore Children

Save the Persecuted Christians and partners remain committed to advocating for Walker’s swift confirmation and call on Chairman Risch to put Walker on the agenda as soon as possible in January.

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Your support today, of all days, would mean a great deal. So please, make a 2X MATCH tax-deductible contribution to Save the Persecuted Christians today.

Make Your Gift One from the Heart

Persecuted Christians — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 17:17:41 GMT

Fellow Believer,

Today is Giving Tuesday, the biggest day of charitable giving of the year, and in support of our efforts to save persecuted Christians across the planet, we are continuing to offer a dollar-for-dollar match of any amount God puts on your heart.

From Armenia to Nigeria and many places in between, we have been making a direct impact by helping to sound the alarm, get the truth in front of the world and policymakers who matter, and truly save lives.

If you’d like a refresher on our efforts, we’ve included it below. None of this would be possible without the support of generous believers like you. Thanks for anything you can give.

– Save the Persecuted Christians

End-of-Year Matched Giving

MEDIA & ADVOCACY CAMPAIGNS

Through targeted media campaigns, public service announcements, coalition building, press events and more, STPC works with our 200+ coalition partners to awaken America and the world to the brutal persecution of Christians.

Most recently, we helped to lead the successful effort to encourage the Trump administration to re-designate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” in response to the ongoing persecution of Christians there.

Since 2009, there have reportedly been 19,000 churches destroyed, over 100,000 killed and at least 5 million more displaced.

This official re-designation of “CPC” status now opens up a range of tools to stop the slaughter, including targeted sanctions and more.

Recently we have also been active in pushing the new leader of Syria to secure a humanitarian corridor on behalf of Christians, Druze and other minorities facing persecution and starvation. Our efforts have entailed coalition letters, high-profile media stories and a hard-hitting social media video PSA released in conjunction with the Syrian leader’s visit to the White House.

Our advocacy has also involved the production of longer-form, in-depth documentaries that pull back the curtain on hidden atrocities – like Remnants of the Sword: Armenians of Artsakh on the ethnic cleansing of ancient Christian communities and Repeal the Deal: End the Vatican’s Sellout to the CCP exposing Beijing’s war on underground churches – equipping viewers with undeniable truth to fuel prayer and action.

OPENING DOORS IN D.C. & ABROAD

We facilitate high-level meetings, briefings, and engagements with U.S. lawmakers, administration officials, and foreign leaders – giving those who’ve faced persecution an opportunity to share their stories directly with policymakers and who have the power to drive real change.

On this front recently, Nigeria remains a primary focus, and we were honored to coordinate meetings with lawmakers and Rebecca Sharibu whose daughter Leah was kidnapped in Nigeria by Boko Haram in 2018. Fearlessly refusing to renounce Christ and convert to Islam, she tragically remains a captive today, one of over 2,500 school children taken since the Chibok girls in 2014.

GATHERING THE FAITHFUL

Save the Persecuted Christians hosts in-person conferences, prayer breakfasts, webinars, and educational events to bring pastors, leaders, and everyday believers together – equipping them with truth about persecution and igniting unified action to defend the Body of Christ.

A prime example is our work helping organize, in 2025, the first-ever Republic of Armenia National Prayer Breakfast in Yerevan.

This historic gathering united Armenian political leaders, clergy, business executives and international guests in prayer and commitment to protect ancient Christian communities. Events like this don’t just inform; they forge alliances and mobilize the Church to stand as one against evil.

STAND FIRM IN ONE SPIRIT

Real power comes when we “stand firm in one spirit.”

That’s the heart of Save the Persecuted Christians – monthly partners uniting their gifts into a single, united force that sustains our advocacy and delivers real results on behalf of our 380 million persecuted brothers and sisters.

We ask you to prayerfully consider maximizing your impact by committing to a monthly contribution. To do so, please go here.

Thank you again for your time, generosity, and willingness to stand up for those being maimed, abused and deprived of their lives and livelihoods simply because they love Jesus.

God bless you,

Dede Laugesen
President
Save the Persecuted Christians

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Christian Convert from Islam Jailed in Egypt

Persecuted Christians — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 14:29:25 GMT

“If you want to be a Christian, you are free… but stay like all converts—silent, isolated, and hidden. No public statements. No contact. No proselytizing.”

Saeed Abu Mustafa is a Christian prisoner in Egypt.

He is charged with “joining a terrorist group” for being a Muslim-background believer, a convert to Christianity from Islam.

Moved to convert, Saeed sought a church to call home. He eventually settled on the Russian Orthodox Church in Alexandria.

When his conversion became known, Saeed experienced increasing hostility from his community and authorities. Feeling his life threatened, he found refuge as an asylum seeker in Russia.

Enjoying a newfound sense of liberty, Saeed courageously began to speak out about the harms he had endured from adherents of his former belief.

Not realizing his new country was “not-so-free,” he voiced criticism of Islam and was deported back home. Returning to Egypt he was threatened, tracked, surveilled and eventually arrested.

His crime?

Saeed Abu Mustafa freely decided to believe that Jesus is truly God’s flesh-and-blood Son who is, was and evermore shall be the one and only Savior of the World.

Saeed left the faith of his youth and made a personal decision for Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Then, he asked the government of Egypt to officially recognize his conversion by updating his national identity documents.

That was his crime. That’s when he was detained and arrested.

His friends, who are trying to alert the world, report he is being tortured in prison.

They cry out for Saeed who faces years in prison for, “joining a terrorist group.”

Saeed contacted a legal representative through a mutual friend. He wished to exercise his constitutional rights by filing a lawsuit to officially change his religious status and amend his identification documents.

On July 15, 2025, shortly after these discussions began, Saeed was arrested by national security forces in the Matariya district of Cairo.

We hoped for his swift release. Instead, on July 22, 2025, he appeared before the State Security Prosecution facing severe charges:

• Joining a terrorist group

• Disturbance of public security

• Spreading false information

This tragic development illustrates a deeply rooted contradiction: while Egypt’s constitution proclaims absolute freedom of belief, in practice, that freedom appears to extend only to those who convert to Islam—not from it.

All of this bullying simply for proclaiming Jesus Christ is Lord and insisting on his right to be acknowledged by his government as a legitimate Christian believer.

If you ask Saeed if Jesus is worth it, what do you think he’d say?

I don’t know Saeed yet. I hope to someday. I’m reaching out to his family and friends to offer encouragement and any help we can muster.

I hope to meet him when he is liberated and all those who rallied to his side during his suffering come together to celebrate his freedom.

I suspect Saeed would tell us he’d gladly suffer it all again and again for love of Jesus. Saeed understands that nothing—NOTHING—can separate a believing soul from the saving power of Jesus.

Join us today to cry out for Saeed Abu Mustafa and all those whose names are unknown to us who follow after Jesus, daily picking up their personal cross and carrying its weight to the heights of Golgotha with hearts full of the Holy Spirit’s sacrificial love for all who dwell upon the earth, that God’s glory may be made manifest to all the world and beyond.

Save the Persecuted Christians is mobilizing action in defense of Saeed and so many others like him persecuted by his own government in Egypt for daring to demand the freedom to be a convert from Islam to Christianity in a Muslim-dominate country that professes in its constitution to uphold religious freedom.

Please prayerfully consider supporting our coalition efforts to expose and bring down the strongholds that enable the abuse of men like Saeed on a one-time or monthly basis.

Your contribution will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a generous donor and champion of our mission to expose, inform, and rally people to stand in solidarity with Christian victims of violence at home in America and around the world in a record number of countries and to hold the perpetrators accountable for their crimes against humanity.

With love,

Dede

Dede Laugesen
President
Save the Persecuted Christians
On X @PersecutedSave

Nearly 100 Prominent Faith Leaders Join Letter Urging President Trump to Pressure Syria’s Al Shaara to Stop Blocking Vital Humanitarian Aid to Christians, Druze, in Southern Syria

Persecuted Christians — Sat, 08 Nov 2025 20:08:09 GMT

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
November 7, 2025

CONTACT:
Dede Laugesen,
President, Save the Persecuted Christians
at info@savethepersecutedchristians.org,
or 719-414-7833

(Washington, DC; November 7, 2025) — Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC) is announcing the release of an open letter to President Donald J. Trump, signed by nearly 100 prominent American faith leaders, and a social media video campaign revealing the horrific atrocities against Christians, Druze, and other religious minorities in the Southern Syria area of Suwayda at the hands of radical ISIS terrorists, believed to be part of the new Syrian Army.

The campaign calls on President Trump to address the escalating crisis facing religious minorities in Syria during the upcoming visit of Syria’s new President, Ahmed al-Sharaa, on November 10, 2025.

“We, the undersigned faith leaders representing tens of millions of American Christians, extend our sincere gratitude for your recent leadership in combating Christian persecution in Nigeria,” the letter begins. “You are the only major world leader fighting for religious freedom, and we need you once again to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.”

VIEW FULL LETTER

The letter praises President Trump’s recent designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act and his administration’s urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to southern Syria. However, it urgently asks President Trump to demand al-Sharaa fulfill his promises to protect Syrian citizens and end the blockade of life-saving humanitarian relief to Syrian Christians and other minorities.

Dede Laugesen, President of Save the Persecuted Christians, stated: “President Trump’s bold actions have already saved countless lives, but the forgotten minorities of Syria cannot wait. This letter is a clarion call for immediate intervention to secure a humanitarian corridor that upholds the dignity and rights of the vulnerable. We stand with him in this fight, as he was ordained for such a time as this.

The release of the letter is accompanied by a powerful 30-second digital video circulating on social media titled “End the Blockade,” highlighting the ongoing persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in Syria and asking President Trump to hold Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa accountable when the two leaders meet in Washington, D.C.

STPC calls on the public to TAKE ACTION:

Read the letter and watch the video here
Join the coalition by contacting President Trump yourself
Share with your friends and family

The full text of the letter from prominent faith leaders and the video is available on the STPC website at savethepersecutedchristians.org.

About Save the Persecuted Christians

Save the Persecuted Christians is a non-partisan coalition dedicated to protecting Christians worldwide from persecution, holding perpetrators accountable and advancing religious freedom as a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. Through advocacy, awareness, and action, STPC mobilizes Americans to defend the faithful in the face of tyranny and terror. Learn more at SaveThePersecutedChristians.org and on X and YouTube PersecutedSave.

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Global Day of Prayer for China

Persecuted Christians — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 00:22:17 GMT

Join us standing and praying for persecuted churches in China!

This is an urgent call to prayer for Beijing’s Zion Church, senior pastor Jin Mingri, and nearly 30 arrested pastors and workers from the house church network, detained in Beihai, Guangxi, after the unprecedented brutal raids in early October.

Bob Fu, with a distinguished panel of global leaders and churches, will be hosting a 24-hour prayer livestream.

You’re personally invited by Bob Fu to join him in prayer. Bob Fu has reserved two prayer slots within the 24-hour relay; please accept his personal invitation and register as a prayer guest for any of the following:

Nov 10th 4-6pm Central Time
Nov 11th 7-9am Central Time

Join believers worldwide in a 24-hour prayer livestream for Beijing’s Zion Church, Pastor Jin Mingri, and nearly 30 detained pastors and workers.

On Monday, 6-7pm ET, a few pastors/family members of Zion Church will share the current condition of persecution of Zion Church with Amb. Sam Brownback and Nadine Maenza to pray.

📅 Nov 10–11, 2025

🕒 Starts 3 p.m. (U.S. Central Time)

📺 Watch live: youtube.com/@IDOPChina

💻 Join Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/6261227836?pwd=0E6aLhag0Khv4rPiUdJGcDBoubSvjt.1&omn=86354311254

🔑 Meeting ID: 626 122 7836

🔒 Passcode: 129109

✉️ Register to pray: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/global-day-of-prayer-for-zion-and-the-persecuted-churches-in-china-tickets-1962763268773?aff=oddtdtcreator

🕓 Prayer Sessions (All Times in U.S. Central Time)

🗓️ Nov 10 | 3–4 p.m. CT

📣 Beijing Zion Church Updates
🎙️ Ambassador Samuel Brownback
🎙️ Nadine Maenza (President, IRF Secretariat)

🗓️ Nov 10 | 4–6 p.m. CT

👤 Host: Dr. Bob Fu
🎙️ Vicky Hartzler (Chair, USCIRF)
🎙️ Pastor Darin Wood (First Baptist Church, Midland TX)
🎙️ Dr. Pastor Andrew Brunson (Family Research Council)

🗓️ Nov 11 | 7–9 a.m. CT

👤 Hosts: Dr. Bob Fu, Pastor Eric Foley, Dr. Hyun Sook Foley (VOM Korea)
🎙️ Rev. Tiatgan Ng (Programme Secretary for Church and Society)

Faith is not a crime. Worship is not a crime. Prayer is not a crime.

Thanks for reading! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Set Reminder / Join Space

Cry Out: International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

Persecuted Christians — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 14:43:36 GMT

The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) is an annual Christian observance in November that unites people to pray for Christians facing persecution worldwide. It is held on the first Sunday of November, which is November 2, 2025, and it encourages prayer for those suffering for their faith through harassment, violence, and legal restrictions. Many churches host events, and resources are available to help individuals, groups, and churches participate, either on the designated day or throughout the month.

Purpose

To raise awareness of the persecution faced by Christians in various parts of the world.
To provide an opportunity for Christians to intercede for their brothers and sisters who are suffering for their faith.
To lift up persecuted believers in prayer, asking for courage, perseverance, and protection.

Host, Dede Laugesen, @dedelaugesen, President, Save the Persecuted Christians

Co-Host, Pastor Greg Young, @ChosenGenRadio, Chosen Generation Radio

Co-Host, Faith McDonnell, @FaithofKGI, Director of Advocacy, Kartartismos Global

Guests:

Dr. Kirk Milhoan, Senior Pastor Calvary Chapel , South Maui @KMilhoanMDPhD
Recording of “The Lord’s Prayer” by the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena, Mosul, Nineveh, Iraq
Msgr. Behnam Benoka: Commemoration of the Martyrs, according to the Syriac Church
Pastor Travis Johnson, Lead Pastor, Pathway Church, Mobile, AL
@BasedPastorTrav
Mariam Ibraheem, Sudanese Prisoner of Faith

Set a reminder / Join Space: https://x.com/PersecutedSave/status/1983768346329018858

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SET REMINDER / JOIN XSPACE

CRY OUT: Nigerians Respond to President Trump’s CPC Designation of Nigeria

Persecuted Christians — Sat, 01 Nov 2025 16:41:08 GMT

CRY OUT: Nigerians Respond to President Trump’s CPC Designation of Nigeria

2 pm ET, Saturday, Nov. 1

Let’s hear from Nigerian Christians what they think of @POTUS’ designation of their country and recognizing the violence they’re enduring for love of Jesus!

Host, @dedelaugesen, President, Save the Persecuted Christians

Co-host, Pastor Greg Young @ChosenGenRadio

Sponsor: SaveThePersecutedChristians.org | on X @PersecutedSave

Set a Reminder and/or Join the XSpace: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1LyxBXOngpMGN

Donate One Time or Monthly to STPC

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Cry Out: South Korea is Persecuting Christians

Persecuted Christians — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 22:02:08 GMT

XSpace by PersecutedSave
7 pm ET, Thursday, Oct. 30
With US Global Criminal Justice Ambassador Morse Tan (2019-2021)

Set Reminder/ Join X Space

CRY OUT: South Korea is Persecuting Christians

Hosted by Dede Laugesen (@dedelaugesen), president of Save the Persecuted Christians (@PersecutedSave)

Co-Hosts: Pastor Greg Young (@cgrschedule), host, Chosen Generation Radio and Faith Harvest Church and special guests: Ambassador Morse Tan @morsehtan

We will pray for South Korean Pastor Hyun-bo Son and his family. Unfortunately, Chance Son (@ChanceSon1226) will likely be unable to join as he is traveling. He sends his deep regrets and hopes to join one of our XSpaces soon.

Set a reminder/ join X Space here: https://x.com/persecutedsave/status/1983555617186005211

Dear Faithful Friend in Christ,

As American Christians, we cherish the freedoms our Founders enshrined—freedoms rooted in the Gospel that allow us to worship boldly and speak truth without fear. Yet today, even in a key U.S. ally like South Korea, those same biblical liberties are under siege. A leftist regime, emboldened by pro-Communist Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influences and North Korean sympathizers, has unleashed a chilling crackdown on pastors, churches, and conservative voices. This isn’t distant history; it’s unfolding now, in 2025, threatening the souls of millions and the stability of a nation once a beacon of democracy in Asia.

Imagine: Prominent Pastor Hyun-bo Son, who baptized over 1,000 believers annually and led the massive “Save Korea Movement” prayer gatherings drawing millions, arrested and imprisoned without conviction for daring to preach against moral decay and political corruption.

His crime? Organizing peaceful assemblies to defend biblical values amid a “techno-totalitarian” grip tightening around the country, including suspicious data center fires that paralyzed government services—echoing the Reichstag blaze that ushered in Nazi horrors.

Churches are raided in “vicious” dawn operations, religious leaders like Pastor Jang-hwan Kim (a Billy Graham crusade veteran honored with the 2025 Korea-U.S. Alliance Award) face arrest threats, and even 82-year-old Dr. Hak Ja Han, a global peace advocate, languishes in detention on fabricated flight-risk charges. This wave of suppression has instilled terror among believers, with reports of surveillance, slander, and prohibitions on faith-based political mobilization—signs of a coordinated assault on religious freedom parallel to crackdowns in Japan and mainland China.

These aren’t isolated incidents.

Since the 2025 elections, South Korea’s government has targeted conservatives and Christians who oppose its authoritarian drift, fearing their influence in mobilizing against CCP-North Korea encroachments that could endanger Taiwan and our Pacific alliances. As one X post starkly warns, “Our nation has now been taken over by pro-CCP and North Korean forces. They are erasing us from history,” while millions gather weekly in defiance, only to be smeared and silenced. Tragically, this crisis claimed the life of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk just days after he rallied a packed Seoul crowd on September 6, 2025, igniting a “MAGA” conservative fire in Korea that the regime now seeks to extinguish. Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List ranks global Christian persecution at record highs, with over 380 million believers suffering high levels of discrimination— and South Korea’s slide into this darkness demands our urgent response.

This is why Save the Persecuted Christians (@PersecutedSave on X), the voice for 380 million persecuted believers worldwide, is hosting a vital X Space tomorrow evening.

Join us for an exclusive conversation with former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice Morse H. Tan (@MorseHTan), a constitutional law expert, former Dean of Liberty University School of Law, and tireless human rights warrior. Ambassador Tan has been on the frontlines of this Korean crisis, briefing Congress on its “descent into authoritarianism,” warning of a potential “communist takeover” that endangers U.S. interests, and interviewing exiled leaders on the “grenade” of political purges. From his recent YouTube addresses to Daily Caller op-eds, he’s dissected how U.S. or Korean courts can halt this freefall, drawing parallels to historical tyrannies and urging action before it’s too late. As an America-First-aligned conservative, Tan bridges faith and policy, echoing Charlie Kirk’s legacy by championing Korean patriots who pray for America as we once prayed for them.

Event Details:

Date: Thursday, October 30, 2025
Time: 7:00 PM ET
Platform: X Spaces (formerly Twitter Spaces) – Follow @PersecutedSave and tune in live. No app needed; just click the notification on X.

In this intimate discussion, Ambassador Tan will unpack the spiritual warfare in Seoul, share actionable steps for U.S. advocacy—like supporting UN resolutions on North Korean human rights—and call believers to prayerful intercession, as Galatians 6:9 reminds us: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Your voice matters. Tune in tomorrow to equip yourself as a watchman on the wall (Ezekiel 33). Share this email with your church group, Bible study, or conservative network—together, we can amplify cries for justice, pressure policymakers, and remind the world that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

In the unyielding hope of Christ’s victory,
Dede

Dede Laugesen
President
Save the Persecuted Christians
info@savethepersecutedchristians.org | @PersecutedSave

P.S. Can’t make it live? The recording will be posted— but join us in real-time to submit questions and stand united!

One-time or Recurring Donation

COMING UP November 4 at 12 pm ET

CRY OUT: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS — Stay Tuned for Details.

There can be no equivocation for Nigeria

Persecuted Christians — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 18:03:46 GMT

(Washington, DC) — In recent weeks, prominent figures have perpetuated a narrative that downplays the religious dimensions of violence in Nigeria, framing it instead as mere social or economic clashes between farmers and herders and falsely arguing that more Muslims are killed than Christians. This portrayal not only misrepresents the data but also obscures the disproportionate suffering of Christian communities at the hands of the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) in Nigeria’s forgotten Middle Belt states.

“On average, 2.4 Christians were killed for every Muslim, with Christians murdered at a rate 5.2 times higher than Muslims relative to population size in affected states. We must be very clear. There can be no equivocation. Nigeria’s Christians are facing genocidal violence from multiple terror groups while their own Muslim-dominated government ignores and denies their plight, routinely fails to arrive in time, make arrests, or prosecute perpetrators,” says Dede Laugesen, president of Save the Persecuted Christians, a U.S. religious freedom watchdog advocating for Christians in Nigeria.

“The driving force behind the murder, hostage-taking, and other extreme abuse facing Nigerian Christians is Islamic jihad perpetrated by multiple terror groups in competition with one another, including the Fulani Ethnic Militia in the Christian Middle Belt States. You cannot separate religion from jihad, and yes, moderate Muslims are sometimes killed and taken hostage alongside their Christian neighbors. Their experience doesn’t begin to equate to over 300 Christian communities decimated and occupied with impunity by Muslim terrorists, resulting in some 4-12 million internally displaced, which I personally witnessed in January 2023, when I visited the most impacted Nigerian states—Plateau and Benue—where diplomats and bureaucrats refuse to go. Nor does it address the 19,100 churches destroyed by violence since 2009. Nigerian Muslims are not suffering large-scale, targeted attacks daily as are Nigerian Christians,” Laugesen added.

Drawing on rigorous documentation from the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA), this article dismantles these claims, revealing a pattern of ethnoreligious terrorism that has claimed tens of thousands of lives while evading global scrutiny.

High-level acknowledgments, such as President Donald J. Trump’s address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 23, 2025, underscore the urgency: “Let us defend free speech and free expression. Let us protect religious liberty, including for the most persecuted religion on the planet today. It’s called Christianity.”

Misleading Narratives from Influential Voices

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, recently addressed the violence against Christians in Nigeria. He described the situation as “not a religious conflict, but more a social conflict, for example, between herders and farmers.” Parolin emphasized that “many Muslims are also victims of this intolerance” and that extremist groups “use violence against all those they consider opponents, without distinction.” While acknowledging the complexity, his comments align with a broader tendency to generalize the violence, suggesting parity in victimhood and downplaying targeted persecution.

Similarly, Massad Boulos, described in some reports as a US envoy (though he serves as Donald Trump’s senior adviser on Arab and African affairs), countered claims of Christian genocide in Nigeria. In a video statement, Boulos asserted that “Boko Haram and ISIS [are] killing more Muslims than Christians” and that “people of all religions are dying as a result of terrorist acts.” He framed incidents in Nigeria’s Middle Belt as clashes where “farmers happened to be Christian and some herdsmen going through” led to conflicts, insisting it’s “not something that we can say specifically targeted about this specific group.” Boulos further claimed Nigeria has lived in “harmony for four centuries” with a 50-50 split between Christians and Muslims, dismissing serious religious issues.

And, U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Richard Mills has also cautioned against framing terrorist attacks in the country along religious lines, saying victims of insurgency and violence cut across faiths, tribes and regions, and there are more Muslim victims than Christian.

These statements, echoed in Nigerian and international outlets, promote a false “farmer-herder” clash narrative that critics argue is a form of propaganda, parroted ad nauseam by lobbyists paid by the Nigerian government, meant to deflect from the Islamist underpinnings of the violence.

However, independent data paints a starkly different picture, exposing these claims as misinformation that ignores the scale and intent behind the attacks—attacks that align with global patterns of Christian persecution, as highlighted by President Trump in his UNGA speech.

The Reality: Data-Driven Evidence of Disproportionate Christian Targeting

ORFA’s comprehensive analysis from October 2019 to September 2024 reveals a crisis far removed from benign “clashes.” The organization documented 66,656 total deaths, including 36,056 civilians, across 13,437 incidents of extreme violence. Contrary to claims of equal victimhood, 2.4 Christians were killed for every Muslim, with Christians murdered at a rate 5.2 times higher than Muslims relative to population size in affected states. This disparity directly contradicts assertions like Boulos’s that more Muslims are killed or Parolin’s implication of indiscriminate violence.

The perpetrators tell an even more damning story. FEM accounted for 47% of civilian killings—over five times the 11% attributed to Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) combined. While jihadist groups like Boko Haram grab headlines with spectacular attacks, FEM’s operations are systematic and territorial, with 79% of civilian deaths occurring in land-based invasions of small Christian farming settlements involving killing, rape, abduction, and arson. These are not random herder-farmer disputes but coordinated efforts to achieve demographic change and control in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.

This table underscores how the violence extends beyond deaths to forced displacement and economic destruction, threatening Nigeria’s food security as Christian agricultural heartlands are depopulated.

Patterns of Atrocity: Beyond “Clashes” to Targeted Terror

The “farmer-herder” label conveniently masks the ethnoreligious motivations evident in attack patterns. ORFA notes that FEM invasions focus on Christian settlements in the North Central Zone (Christian Middle Belt) and Kaduna state, with 3,776 killing incidents and 1,990 abductions documented—mostly by FEM. High-profile massacres illustrate this intent:

Agatu Massacre (February-March 2016): 300-500 killed in Benue State, marking early large-scale FEM coordination.
Christmas Eve Massacre (2023): Between 200-500 lives lost in Plateau State’s Bokkos area, timed for maximum psychological impact on Christians.
Yelwata Massacre (June 13-14, 2025): More than 270 slain, mostly women and children, in Benue State’s Guma area.

These events follow a consistent strategy: nighttime raids on sleeping villages, selective targeting during Christian holidays, and no equivalent attacks on Muslim communities. This is not mutual conflict but a “slow-motion genocide,” as ORFA reports, reshaping Nigeria’s geography through terror.

Why the Misinformation Persists and Its Dangerous Consequences

The escape of FEM from global terrorism indices, like the Global Terrorism Index (GTI)—where they ranked fourth deadliest in 2015 but vanished thereafter—stems from this misframing as “ethnic clashes” rather than terrorism. Databases prioritize “spectacular” acts, undercounting systematic raids. As a result, billions in international aid target Boko Haram/ISWAP, while Middle Belt victims receive scant support, allowing FEM to operate unchecked.

The Nigerian government is implicated in paying journalists to suppress reports of violence against Christian communities and often fails to file official security incident reports, further hindering accurate reporting. Nigerian police are federalized and citizens are forbidden from owning anything but the most primitive guns for hunting. When the terrorists descend en masse, shouting in Fulfide, “Alahu Akkbar,” local, mostly unarmed, village security volunteers are often the ones arrested simply for attempting to defend their homes, families, and neighbors, while the well-armed terrorists go free.

Statements from figures like Parolin, Boulos, and Mills, whether well-intentioned or influenced, perpetuate this invisibility. By emphasizing “social conflicts due to climate change” and “more Muslim victims,” they align with narratives that Laugesen labels as propaganda: “The Nigerian government is doing all it can to stop and suppress the truth. Truth Nigeria’s reporters, the brave on-the-ground journalists bringing us the news of hostage camps near military installations, are in danger in Nigeria because they are being surveilled and threatened by the Nigerian government for telling the truth.”

She further warns, “If no official report is filed on attacks happening in the Middle Belt, nothing happens. If the Nigerian government pays off the Nigerian media to suppress these reports, the international media will not hear about it, and neither will the State Department.” The reality, substantiated by ORFA’s data, demands a Country-of-Particular-Concern designation per the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act.

“The evidence is clear,” says Laugesen. “The Nigerian government is tolerating, likely enabling, multi-front, targeted ethnoreligious violence by Islamist militias, not equitable herder-farmer disputes—a point echoed by President Trump at UNGA, where he urged nations to ‘protect religious liberty, including for the most persecuted religion on the planet today. It’s called Christianity.’”

What is the CPC Designation for Nigeria?

Laugesen has been vocal about the need for Nigeria’s redesignation as a Country of Particular Concern by the U.S. State Department: “We were successful in getting Nigeria designated as a Country of Particular Concern under the first Trump administration but the Biden administration pulled back that designation for political reasons, and we are still waiting for that redesignation to happen, so that the Trump administration has the tools that it needs to hold Nigeria accountable.”

In September, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced a bill that would mandate a “Country of Particular Concern” status for Nigeria. Earlier this year, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) introduced a resolution calling on Congress to acknowledge their opinion that Nigeria ought to be so designated.

The International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998 (22 U.S.C. § 6401 et seq.) requires the U.S. President (typically delegated to the Secretary of State) to annually review the status of religious freedom in every foreign country. A country is designated as a CPC if its government engages in or tolerates “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” during the preceding 12 months (or since the last review, if longer). These violations are defined as systematic, ongoing, and egregious, including:

Torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
Prolonged detention without charges.
Causing the disappearance of persons through abduction or clandestine detention.
Other flagrant denials of the right to life, liberty, or security of persons based on religious belief.

The President must also identify responsible government agencies, instrumentalities, or officials for targeted actions. Designations are reported to Congress within 90 days, including any actions taken. A CPC designation can be removed if the President determines the violations have ceased or substantial steps have been taken to end them, with notification to Congress.

Amendments, particularly the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2016, expanded IRFA by adding a “Special Watch List” for countries engaging in or tolerating “severe” (but not “particularly severe”) violations, and “Entities of Particular Concern” for non-state actors committing similar acts. However, the core CPC criteria remain unchanged.

Upon CPC designation, the President must take one or more “commensurate” actions (proportionate to the violation’s gravity) from a specified menu under 22 U.S.C. § 6445, or equivalent substitutes, after consulting with relevant U.S. agencies and fulfilling diplomatic consultation requirements. These actions aim to promote religious freedom and can include:

Diplomatic Measures: Private or public demarches, public condemnations (unilaterally or in multilateral forums), delaying or canceling scientific/cultural exchanges, or denying/delaying official visits.
Economic and Financial Sanctions: Withholding U.S. funds benefiting the responsible entity; suspending development or security assistance (in whole or in part); directing U.S. representatives in international financial institutions (e.g., World Bank, IMF) to oppose loans; prohibiting U.S. Export-Import Bank agreements, loans from U.S. financial institutions, or government procurement from the entity; reducing overall U.S. assistance levels; or imposing broader sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Targeted Sanctions on Individuals: Applying visa bans, asset freezes, or other penalties on specific officials or parties responsible for the violations.
Diplomatic Downgrades: Reducing the level of U.S. diplomatic relations.

In lieu of these, the President may negotiate a binding agreement with the foreign government to cease or substantially address the violations, which waives other actions if implemented. Exemptions or waivers are possible if violations have ended, if it furthers IRFA’s purposes, or if required by vital U.S. national interests, but must be justified in a report to Congress. Actions cannot terminate or limit U.S. development or agricultural assistance under certain laws, and CPC countries are ineligible for specific aid programs.

These tools provide diplomatic, economic, and targeted leverage to pressure CPC governments, though implementation varies based on U.S. interests and waivers.

This designation would provide diplomatic leverage to address the unchecked violence and ensure accountability, particularly given recent U.S. arms sales to Nigeria—$346 million approved in August 2025 and $997 million in 2022—despite concerns over human rights abuses and corruption. Laugesen cautions, “The United States must ensure that the over $1 billion in arms sales approved for Nigeria does not further equip the terrorists, nor the corrupt military industrial complex that ensures the violence never ends.”

A Call for Accountability and Reform

Nigeria’s crisis requires urgent reevaluation. International bodies must reform monitoring to capture all forms of religious-based violence, regardless of labels. Diplomatic pressure should focus on FEM as a terrorist entity, with aid redirected to protect vulnerable Christian communities. Ignoring the data risks not just lives but the stability of Africa’s most populous nation.

The evidence is clear: the “farmer-herder” narrative is a myth that shields perpetrators. It’s time to confront the facts and act to designate Nigeria before more communities vanish, heeding calls like President Trump’s to safeguard Christianity as the world’s most persecuted faith.

“For President Trump, this is an opportunity. In his second term, he has stopped eight wars,” said Laugesen. “If he does the right thing and ignores his misinformed envoys, Trump can add to his impressive tally by stopping an active Genocide of Christians. Naming Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern and using humiliating targeted sanctions on its officials is a critical step toward meeting that noble goal.”

CRY OUT: Faith Reborn – Charlie Kirk’s Bold Vision to Ignite America’s Spiritual Revival

Persecuted Christians — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 21:45:10 GMT

[Washington, D.C.] – October 13, 2025 – Get ready to be inspired! Join us for an electrifying X-Spaces event, Cry Out: Faith Reborn, Charlie Kirk’s Gift to America, streaming live on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, at 12 PM ET as we honor Charlie’s birthday and pray for his family.

This powerful conversation, hosted by the dynamic duo Dede Laugesen (@DedeLaugesen) and Pastor Greg Young, will feature Lucas Miles (@LucasMiles), Senior Director of TPUSA Faith, as they dive into Charlie Kirk’s transformative mission to rekindle faith and hope across the nation and consider the impacts of the Glorious Revival now taking place in America and around the world.

Proudly sponsored by Save The Persecuted Christians, a passionate U.S. nonprofit (@PersecutedSave on X), this event is a rallying cry for believers and seekers alike to unite in a movement of spiritual renewal. Don’t miss this chance to engage with bold ideas and discover how faith can reshape America’s future!

Set your reminder now and join the conversation: https://x.com/PersecutedSave/status/1975718504549548476

###

Contact: Dede Laugesen, president & CEO, Save the Persecuted Christians at info@savethepersecutedchristians.org or call, 719-414-7833.

Every dollar donated will be matched through October!

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Save the Persecuted Christians Urges Immediate U.S. Action to Halt Genocide of Christians in Nigeria

Persecuted Christians — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 20:10:20 GMT

Save the Persecuted Christians President Dede Laugesen speaking at a Capitol Hill press conference on September 3

Washington, D.C. – October 2, 2025 – Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC) calls for accountability and intervention in the ongoing persecution and genocide of Christians in Nigeria, drawing from recent remarks by President Dede Laugesen at key events in Washington, D.C.

Speaking at a Capitol Hill press conference on September 3 and the International Religious Freedom Roundtable on September 29, Laugesen emphasized the need for the U.S. to redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), designate terrorist entities including the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM), and scrutinize arms sales amid widespread human rights abuses.

In her remarks, Laugesen drew parallels between the sparse media coverage of Nigeria’s Christian genocide and historical underreporting of the Holocaust, noting that “the ongoing genocide of Christians in Nigeria receives the same disjointed, sparse, manipulated and propagandized coverage in international mainstream media.” She highlighted how Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorism in northern Nigeria often overshadows the systematic attacks by radicalized Muslim Fulani militias in the Middle Belt states of Plateau, Benue, and Southern Kaduna.

Laugesen pointed to recent atrocities, including the June 2025 massacre in Yelewata, Benue State; the “Black Christmas” attacks in December 2023, which killed hundreds over the holiday period in Plateau State; and subsequent violence in April and June 2024 that claimed over 400 lives in Plateau and Benue states. “Fulani militia attacks on Christian farming communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, very similar to what happened in Israel on October 7th, 2023, happen daily across the Middle Belt,” she stated. Despite advance warnings, Nigerian security forces have been slow or absent in response, raising concerns of complicity.

A critical revelation from coalition partners like TruthNigeria.com involves Fulani-operated hostage camps in dense forests near military installations, where hundreds—if not thousands—of mostly Christian victims are tortured, starved, and murdered. “It is absurd to think the Nigerian military is unaware, yet nothing has been done to clear these Fulani-operated hostage camps and save the victims,” Laugesen said at the Roundtable. She urged global media to amplify these stories with the same urgency as conflicts in Ukraine or Israel, questioning, “Do Black African Christians merit any less attention? Do the women and children of Nigeria matter to Western media?”

Laugesen welcomed Senator Ted Cruz’s Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025, introduced on September 11, which aims to sanction Nigerian officials facilitating jihadist violence and redesignate Nigeria as a CPC while naming Boko Haram and ISWAP as Entities of Particular Concern (EPCs). However, she stressed the bill’s omission of the FEM, responsible for 47% of the 62,000+ Christian deaths in Nigeria over the past 25 years, according to reports from Open Doors and International Christian Concern. “Unless and until the United States recognizes the Fulani Ethnic Militia as an entity of particular concern, nothing will improve for the Christians of Nigeria,” she asserted, calling for amendments to include the FEM and restrictions on U.S. arms sales totaling over $1.3 billion since 2022.

The attacks, often occurring during Christian festivals or farming seasons, involve nighttime raids with rifles, machetes, and arson, accompanied by shouts of “Allahu Akbar.” Villages are destroyed, farmlands are occupied for grazing, and communities are displaced—136 in Plateau State alone in 2025, with 79 fully deserted. Laugesen criticized the Nigerian government’s inaction, including arrests of Christian protesters while militias operate with impunity, and noted threats to brave journalists reporting the truth.

“The genocide of Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt will not end until the international community and the Nigerian government are compelled to address the Fulani Ethnic Militia and their parallel jihad operating with great effect in tandem with Boko Haram and ISWAP,” Laugesen concluded. STPC calls on the Trump administration, Congress, and media to prioritize this crisis, liberate the hostage camps, expose corrupt benefactors, and ensure U.S. policies do not inadvertently fund the violence.

About Save the Persecuted Christians Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for persecuted Christians worldwide, with a focus on Nigeria since 2018. Through education, advocacy, and coalition-building, STPC works to raise awareness and push for policy changes to protect religious freedoms and hold perpetrators accountable. Contributions made through October will be matched dollar for dollar.

Dede Laugesen, who previously served as executive director, was promoted to president on September 10, 2025.

For more information, visit SaveThePersecutedChristians.org.

Media Contact: Dede Laugesen, President, Save the Persecuted Christians, info@savethepersecutedchristians.org

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From Dadivank to Yerablur

Persecuted Christians — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 18:26:18 GMT

A Testament of Faith, Love, and Unyielding Resilience: The Story of Hovhannes and Vera

In the year 1986, two souls united in marriage, bound not only by love but by a shared destiny that would intertwine with the fate of a nation. Hovhannes and Vera began their journey together, unaware of the trials that awaited them—trials that would demand unwavering courage, sacrifice, and an unbreakable faith in God and homeland.

The Birth of a Family, The Birth of a Struggle

Their first child arrived in 1987, a beacon of hope in uncertain times. A year later, as the winds of liberation began to stir across Artsakh, they named their second child Artsakh—a declaration of defiance, a vow that this land and its people would never be forgotten. But with this hope came darkness. The enemy sought not just territory but the very erasure of a people, and Hovhannes, like so many fathers and husbands, took to the forests, the mountains, anywhere that might shield his family from the storm.

And Vera? She stood alone—her hands cradling their children, her heart carrying the weight of a war not yet named.

The Call of God and the Crucible of War

In 1989, as the Diocese of Artsakh reopened under the leadership of His Eminence Archbishop Pargev Martirosyan, a divine path unfolded. Hovhannes, guided by faith, entered the seminary of Holy Etchmiadzin, answering a calling greater than himself. But this blessing was also a sacrifice—Vera, now expecting their third child, faced the unimaginable: raising three children alone in a land under siege.

Famine gripped Artsakh. Bombs rained from the sky. Yet Vera endured, her hands never faltering, her spirit never breaking.

In 1992, Hovhannes returned as Father Hovhannes, ordained to serve both God and his people. But war cares little for holy vows. As Gandzasar trembled under fire, Vera clutched one child in her arms and two by the hands, running through smoke and chaos to find shelter. When the Turks advanced, they sent their children to Yerevan—only for those little ones to cower under beds, trembling at the sound of planes, their innocence shattered by a war they did not choose.

And Vera? She returned.

The Heart of a Soldier, The Soul of a Saint

While men fought with rifles, Vera fought with bread, with bandages, with tea carried to trembling hands in the trenches. She stood in the ruins of Gandzasar, in the sacred stones of Dadivank, feeding not just bodies but souls. When villages were liberated—Karvachar, Dadivank, Vaghuhas, Haterk—she was there, her hands rebuilding what war sought to destroy.

And when the enemy came again in 2020, their four sons took up arms, defending the land that bore their name. Through blockade and betrayal, Vera and Hovhannes remained—until the last possible moment, until the very end.

The Final Exodus: A Legacy That Will Not Die

Even as Artsakh fell, even as the world turned away, Vera baked bread for the starving, sang hymns in the shadows of Gandzasar, and refused to let despair take root. On December 12, 2022, as the blockade tightened, she stored wheat, sugar, oil—not for herself, but for her people.

Because that is who she is. That is who they are.

An Eternal Covenant

Hovhannes and Vera did not just live through history—they forged it. Through war, through exile, through every silent night when hope seemed lost, they stood together: a priest and his wife, a father and mother of Artsakh, guardians of a flame that no force on earth can extinguish.

Their story is not one of defeat.

It is a testament—written in faith, sealed in sacrifice, and carried forward by the unbroken spirit of a people who will never forget.

Hear the Hovhannisyan’s speak

The public is invited to an Armenian cultural education event in Glendale, California, USA. Join us for an evening with Fr. Hovhannes and his wife, Vera, who came from Artsakh and are now posted to the Yerablur Military Cemetery outside of Yerevan, Armenia.

6-8 p.m. PT, Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Our event is scheduled to take place at the historic Society of Armenia Los Angeles cultural center, located at 117 S. Louise St, Glendale, CA 91205
RSVP at SaveThePersecutedChristians.org
Light refreshments will be served. The talks will be given in Armenian with translation.
Jointly sponsored by Save the Persecuted Christians, Save Armenia and Mercury One
Follow Save the Persecuted Christians on X @PersecutedSave for more information.