Attacks on Christians in Nigeria and the problem of narratives

An online talk delivered as part of the annual seminar series organised by the Centre of World Christianity at SOAS University of London

Abstract

When St Francis Xavier’s Church in Owo, Ondo State was attacked during Mass on Pentecost Sunday (5th June 2022), leaving 41 worshippers dead, Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins condemned the attack, but linked it to “the consequences of climate change”. Owo’s Catholic Bishop Jude Arogundade responded saying “his reasons for this gruesome massacre are incorrect and far-fetched”.

The reasons for the attacks on Christians can only be located in a broader and more complex context, the full complexity of which is sometimes difficult to fully ascertain due to a lack of information regarding which groups are carrying out attacks and why. However, the current trends in government, academia and other institutions, which favour climate change or eco-terrorism as the key narrative to explain attacks in the Middle Belt and elsewhere, oversimplify the situation. Moreover, this can tend to erase the religious dimension which the victims themselves often see as a key part of any explanation.

This paper will look at the complexities of the attacks, problematise the use of climate change or eco-terrorism as an overarching metanarrative, and argue that some sort of religious dimension cannot be removed for any adequate explanation for what has been occurring in Nigeria.

Speaker biography

John Newton is Communications and Research Manager at Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), where he has worked in the Press and Public Affairs Department since 2007. The department oversees numerous areas of the charity’s work including PR, research and parliamentary outreach.

John oversees the production of the charity’s keynote Persecuted and Forgotten? report on the oppression of Christians. John also contributes to ACN’s comprehensive Religious Freedom in the World report, which examines religious liberty in every country in the world: he has written the entry on the UK for over a decade. His Religious Freedom Today: The Catholic View which gives a summary of the Catholic Church’s teaching on the subject was released by CTS in 2015; and ACN published his Eastern Catholic Churches – A Short Introduction in 2022.

John’s masters and doctoral studies at the universities of Oxford and Durham at looked the relationship between literature, popular belief and official theology after the Reformation, a time of great upheaval and conflict in religious matters.

About the Centre of World Christianity

The SOAS Centre of Christianity aims to:

• raise awareness about and overcome colonial legacies in the studies of Christianity worldwide and improve understanding of non-Western Christian traditions in the world;
• foster a better link between the academic study of Christian traditions and Christian communities’ lived experiences in their historical and cultural context;
• engage with topical issues and inform real-time analysis, such as the role of religious discourse in conflict, war crimes against faith communities, and the problem of anti-Christian persecution where Christians are minorities.

The Centre is co-chaired by Dr Lars Laaman and Dr Romina Istratii.

Find out more about us: Centre of World Christianity | SOAS

Listen to our previous talks on Youtube: SOAS Centre of World Christianity - YouTube

If you have any questions about the event, please contact Dr Romina Istratii (ri5@soas.ac.uk).

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