On the night of June 13, 2025, armed Fulani herdsmen descended on a Catholic farming community in Nigeria. By the time the night was over, more than 200 Christian men, women, and children lay dead amidst the ruins of their burnt-down homes. That incident is just one among thousands of targeted killings of Christians by jihadist herdsmen in the country.
If you believe much of the liberal media’s perspective over the past decade, the mass killing of Christians in Nigeria is painted as part of a mutual “conflict” between Christian farmers and Muslim indigenous herders over land.
The fact that the herdsmen carried out the atrocity while shouting “Allahu Akbar” has been deemed insufficient evidence by some media outlets to classify these attacks as religiously motivated genocide. According to various reports, the violence has resulted in the deaths of between 50,000 and 125,000 Christians over the past 15 years. It is important to note that numerous moderate Muslims have also been killed by Islamic radicals during this period.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump said that the U.S. Department of War should prepare for “possible action” in Nigeria in response to the ongoing, unimpeded killing of Christians.
“They’re killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria. They’re killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers,” Trump said. “We’re not going to allow that to happen.”
Unsurprisingly, The Washington Post responded to Trump’s statements by reiterating the familiar claim that the genocide of Christians in Nigeria is merely a mutual “conflict.” In their November 2, 2025 article titled “Farmer-herder conflicts affect the central states,” reporters Rachel Chason and Abiodun Jamiu downplayed the severity of the violence.
The Post went further to label the targeting of Christians as only “alleged.” They wrote: “In a post on Truth Social, Trump singled out the plight of Christians allegedly targeted by violence in Nigeria.”
Allegedly?
What of the evidence of 40 to 50 Christian farmers slaughtered by a Fulani herdsman in April 2025? Or the coordinated attacks across Nigeria’s Plateau State in late 2023, where 140 Christian farmers were murdered? And the horrifying massacre of 40 Catholics after Mass at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo in 2022?
This repeated use of “allegedly” wasn’t an offhand rhetorical flourish. It appeared twice in the article, also casting doubt on Trump’s warning of potential aid cuts “over alleged attacks on Christians.”
Chason and Jamiu also quoted researcher Malik Samuel, who denied a targeted campaign against Christians and referred to claims of religious genocide in Nigeria as “nonsensical.” Interestingly, Samuel has publicly supported other controversial claims, such as accusations against Israel in Gaza.
The Washington Post stated that Trump’s threatening remarks caused “confusion” and left many Nigerians “baffled.” However, many Christians in Nigeria understand the harsh reality of what is unfolding.
A few years ago, I spoke with the Anglican archbishop of the Jos Ecclesiastical Province in Nigeria’s Plateau State, Marcus Ibrahim. When I mentioned that much of the media framed the conflict as one over economic resources between farmers and herders, he was outraged.
“It’s founded on attacks and killing; it’s founded on jihad. They want a jihad in Nigeria. All of these attacks are religiously motivated,” Ibrahim asserted.
He also pointed out that three churches in Plateau State had recently been burned down — a devastating fact that hardly aligns with a purely economic dispute. The systematic burning of churches and the repeated kidnapping of seminarians and priests suggest a clear religious motivation behind the violence.
One Christian religious leader in Nigeria even emphasized that he advises his community against responding with violence toward the Fulani herdsmen, highlighting a commitment to peace amid horrific persecution.
The Washington Post is not alone in its stance. In 2018, The New York Times described the situation similarly—as “farmers and herdsmen vying for land, leading to bloody battles.” The Times conceded that religion exacerbates tensions, but has since doubled down on the narrative of mutual conflict.
In its response to Trump’s comments, The Times called the violence against Christians “a claim made by some evangelical groups and U.S. lawmakers.” Subsequently, reporter Pranav Baskar wrote that Trump “did not specify which attacks on Christians he was referring to” and “did not cite any evidence” to support claims of targeted Christian killings.
Apparently, the massacre of 200 Christians in a single attack in the summer of 2025 was too difficult for Baskar to thoroughly research. For him and the Times, these gruesome events cannot be categorized as a targeted genocide—just mutual “clashes” rooted in resource competition, religious friction, and ethnic tensions.
CNN offered a somewhat more balanced response, acknowledging that “both Christians and Muslims have been victims of attacks by radical Islamists.” While this underplays the religiously motivated nature of the violence against Christians, it at least recognizes that Christians have suffered at the hands of Islamic extremists.
CNN quoted John Joseph Hayab, leader of the Christian Association of Nigeria, who agreed with Trump’s assessment of systematic Christian killings and said he had “presided over numerous mass burials of slain Christians.”
More than 7,000 Christians have been massacred in Nigeria through July of 2025 alone. Yet despite the overwhelming evidence, much of the mainstream media refuses to acknowledge this reality. How high must the death toll rise before our “papers of record” face the facts?
The Nigerian government, tragically, also denies the genocide, turning a blind eye to the truth just as the media often does.
This mass denial only underscores the urgent need for intervention by the U.S. government to halt the violence. As John Mac Ghlionn wrote in *The American Spectator*, “military pressure, economic sanctions, and diplomatic consequences” are essential to stop the persecution of Christians.
The Trump administration deserves credit for beginning to apply this necessary pressure on Nigeria.
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– [The Left Ignores Nigeria’s Suffering Christians While Proclaiming to Be Perfect Humanitarians](#)
– [What Is America’s Role in Africa?](#)
– [Nigeria: The Most Dangerous Place To Be a Christian](#)
– [Ted Cruz and the Specter of ‘Roland, the Headless Thompson Gunner’](#)
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*Additional reads:*
– Polyamory in Somerville 5 Years After Legal Recognition: 22 Official Throuples and a Poly Mayoral Candidate
– Xi Cracks Down on Christians Ahead of Meetup With Trump
https://spectator.org/media-denies-christian-genocide-in-response-to-trumps-threat-of-military-action-in-nigeria/