Understanding How Christians Respond to Religious Persecution: Evidence from Kenya and Nigeria

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Acknowledgements

The research presented in this essay was made possible thanks to the assistance of many people. In Nigeria, I owe an immense debt of gratitude to Bishop Matthew Kukah, John Cardinal Oneiyekan, Rev. Paulinus Odozor CSsP, Arthur-Martins Aginam, and Vanessa Offiong. Many thanks to Jackline Aridi and Lawrence Itela for research coordination and assistance in Kenya. Brian Mukhaya also provided valuable research assistance through the Kellogg Institute’s International Scholars Program at the University of Notre Dame. Fieldwork was made possible thanks to grants from the Templeton Religion Trust, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at Notre Dame, and the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts at Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters.

Notes

1. Barrett (2001). As of 2010, the Pew Research Center estimates that 52 percent of Nigeria’s population was Muslim and 46 percent of the country’s population was Christian.

2. “World Watch List: Nigeria,” Open Doors, accessed October 14, 2015. https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/nigeria/.

3. Interview with author August 13, 2015.

4. Interview with author August 13, 2015.

5. While the disagreements sometime break down along denominational lines, with mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic leaders choosing to reach out to Muslim religious leaders and government and evangelical Christians choosing to demand government action and to call for Christians to defend themselves, such disagreements often cut across denominations.

6. Interview conducted at meeting of Christian leaders in Abuja on August 10, 2015.

7. Interview conducted at meeting of Christian leaders in Abuja on August 10, 2015.

8. Interview conducted at meeting of Christian leaders in Abuja on August 10, 2015.

9. Interview conducted August 11, 2015.

10. Interview conducted August 11, 2015.

11. Interview conducted August 13, 2015.

12. Interview conducted at meeting of Christian leaders in Abuja on August 10, 2015.

13. Interview conducted August 13, 2015.

14. Interview conducted in Abuja on August 8, 2015.

15. Interview conducted in Abuja on August 9, 2015.

16. Interview conducted August 13, 2015.

17. Interview conducted August 13, 2015.

18. Interview conducted August 13, 2015.

19. Interview conducted in Abuja on August 9, 2015.

20. Interview conducted August 9, 2015.

21. Interview conducted August 10, 2015.

22. Interview conducted August 13, 2015.

23. Interview with author, August 13, 2015.

24. Interview with author August 13, 2015.

25. It is important to note that in some of the twelve northern states of Nigeria, where the sharia has been enshrined in state constitutions, Christians have claimed that they are victims of discrimination. Nonetheless, in some northern states, even states where the sharia has been enshrined, Christians do enjoy a high degree of religious freedom, and there is little or no evidence of harassment by the state. Examples would include Sokoto, Kano, and Kaduna states.

26. Ugandan and Ethiopian troops also make up the AMISOM force.

27. Interview conducted July 29, 2015.

28. Interview conducted May 21, 2015.

29. Interview conducted July 17, 2015.

30. Interview conducted July 29, 2015.

31. Interview conducted July 29, 2015.

32. Interview conducted July 29, 2015.

33. Interview conducted July 29, 2015.

34. Interview conducted June 5, 2015.

35. Interview conducted July 15, 2015.

36. Interview conducted July 29, 2015.

37. Interview conducted July 30, 2015.

38. Interview conducted July 30, 2015.

39. Interview conducted July 30, 2015.

40. Interview conducted June 5, 2015.

41. Interviewed conducted July 15, 2015.

42. Interview conducted July 26, 2015.

43. Interview conducted July 15, 2015.

44. Interview conducted May 21, 2015.

45. Interview conducted July 17, 2015.

46. Interviewed conducted July 15, 2015.

47. Interview conducted July 29, 2015.

48. Interview conducted on July 29, 2015.

49. Interview conducted May 21, 2015.

50. Interview conducted July 29, 2015.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Robert Dowd

Robert A. Dowd is Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Ford Family Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame. He is author of Christianity, Islam, and Liberal Democracy: Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa (Oxford University Press, 2015).