Christians face persecution everywhere in the world, especially at the hands of violent Islamic extremists. 

From Gatestone Institute. The following are among the murders and abuses inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of May 2023. Note: Because there were so many incidents of persecution in Pakistan, a separate article was dedicated to it here.

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The Muslim Slaughter of Christians

Nigeria: Muslim terrorists of the Fulani variety slaughtered 43 Christians during raids on two villages in Nasarawa State. A local Christian described the jihad on Takalafiya village, on the night of May 12-13, as the Christians slept:

“Most of the victims killed during the attack are women, children and the aged, as most of them were unable to escape as the armed Muslim terrorists and herdsmen shot randomly at anyone they sighted during the ambush on the village.” …

Two days later, during the night of May 15, Fulani terrorists armed with AK-47s and machetes murdered another 50 Christians, including another pastor, while assaulting villages in Plateau State. The attacks were again launched in the middle of the night, when Christian villagers were asleep. Most of those murdered were again women and children.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Between May 12-14, militants of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) — an Islamic terror group connected to the Islamic State — burned to death at least eight Christians during a series of raids. The report adds that “Violent persecution continues to rise in the region, and assaults like this are shocking but sadly not surprising.” A local pastor added that “The ADF is killing God’s people.”

Burkina Faso: On May 25, Islamic terrorists murdered seven people, including a pastor. …

Uganda: A Christian student was slaughtered for “sharing Christ with Muslims,” according to a May 1 report. Jeremiah Mwanga, 24, a student at a Christian school, was killed in his dorm room by a Muslim student. According to a friend of his:

“Jeremiah complained about messages from one of the students threatening to kill him for misleading Muslims by preaching to them the gospel of Christ as well as converting them to the Christian faith in the school. He requested prayers from the Christian Union fellowship.” …

Egypt: On May 15, a Muslim bulldozer driver at a construction site killed his supervisor, a Christian, by crushing him to death. According to the report:

“[The Muslim worker] shoved engineer Fadi Nabil Mikhail, the site supervisor, with the bucket (ram) of his loader several times before crushing him…. The workers at the site heard the victim’s screams, and saw him lying on the ground next to the loader, drowning in his blood…. [He] succumbed to his fatal wounds by the time the ambulance arrived.”

Before a court, the Muslim, whose name is withheld, admitted that he “intentionally and with premeditation” murdered his victim …

United Kingdom: On May 1, a Muslim man who had been randomly slicing at people’s faces in the streets of London, stabbed a female Christian charity worker in the neck, killing her:

“Mohamed Nur, 33, was charged on Friday for the murder of 31-year-old Johanita Kossiwa Dogbey [the Christian aid worker] and for three counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent after allegedly attacking a man and two other women in separate incidents just two days prior to the murder. …

Spain: On May 14, a Muslim migrant from Morocco attacked a van transporting a conservative Christian group, injuring one woman. The man hurled objects at the van and the woman — hitting her in the back with a heavy “porcelain figure.” It took four policemen to subdue him, and all four received injuries. During his tirade to the Christian party — which included threats of “ripping off” and putting their heads “in bags,” and “burying them” — he accused them of trying to “take away our aid,” an apparent reference to the welfare and upkeep of migrants. Prior to this incident, the Muslim migrant had been detained, including for “attempted murder.”

Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches

Sudan: On Sunday, May 14, militants stormed the St. George Coptic church in Omdurman during mass. According to Reuters, “The gunmen sprayed bullets at a priest, nuns, and sextons, wounding five of them.” They called the worshippers inside “infidels,” “sons of dogs,” and told them to convert to Islam …

Discussing the plight of Christians, who make up between 3-5% of population of Sudan, one report notes:

“Sudan has been governed by sharia (Islamic law) since 1983, and is one of only a few countries in modern times where the death penalty for apostasy has been carried out.” …

Nigeria: On Sunday, May 7, Muslim terrorists stormed a Baptist church during service and abducted 40 Christians, though some escaped. …

Sweden: An Islamic terror attack targeting a church at a time when it would have been packed was thwarted, according to a May 23 report:

“Two Syrian brothers plotted to bomb a church. No details were given on the exact target of the attack. Both brothers are now in custody. The target was an unspecified church in Sweden, where people would have been gathered at the time of the planned attack. Investigators did not disclose further details. The two Syrians, who arrived in Germany separately in 2015, are in custody in Hamburg.”

France: On Sunday, May 28, several “unidentified” people broke into and vandalized the Saint-Laurent church in Cugnaux, which has a large Muslim presence. They defaced a crucifix, overturned candles onto the ground, and damaged picture frames — before lighting the church on fire. A passerby called the fire department, which arrived swiftly and put out the flames. …

Indonesia: On May 19, Muslim mobs stopped Christians from worshipping in two cities in Sumatra Island: in Riau, Muslims “stopped Bethel Indonesia Church’s worship service,” and in Binjai, at least 40 Muslims “disrupted Christians as they worshipped in a café”.

Muslim Attacks on Apostates to Christianity

Uganda: Angered at his wife’s conversion to Christianity, a Muslim man starved her before trying to feed her to wild animals. On May 10, Sharifa Muhando, 27, the married mother of a 2-year-old boy, fell asleep in her room after having read the Bible and prayed. “Unfortunately I left the door open,” she said from her hospital bed.

“My husband came back from his place of work and called me, and I didn’t respond because I was deep in sleep. He opened the door and found me with my Bible and a notebook on my chest. He shouted, ‘Allah Akbar [Allah is the greatest]! I was terrified after seeing him; he asked me what the matter was. I answered him that this is a holy book. He got annoyed and beat me that night and told me that he was punishing me for leaving Islam, and that he will automatically be rewarded in Jannah [paradise] by Allah.”

During the following two days, he prevented her from eating — along with confinement, a standard sharia punishment for apostate women — and threatened to murder her. Then, on May 17, he took her to nearby Queen Elizabeth National Park:

“My husband said he had received a dream from Allah of taking me somewhere. He took me on his vehicle and dumped me inside Queen Elizabeth National Park to be eaten by wild animals.”

Christians from the church she had secretly been attending happened to drive by and recognize the woman in time. They rescued and took her to a nearby hospital. …

Muslim Hate for Christianity and Christians

Turkey: On May 13, an article devoted to examining the lives of Christian minorities in the Muslim nation was published. It interviewed a Christian man living there, who said:

“When I was little, Muslim children would spit on the Christian cross and kiss the Islamic crescent moon in front of us. We, the Christian children in the village, were called slaves and cockroaches…. The hatred towards our [Christian] communities may be less visible now, but it is still there. …”

Germany: A Baby Jesus in a 400-year-old painting had his throat slit with a knife. This was one among many centuries-old Christian paintings — including the even older “Christ as Man of Sorrows,” made in 1435 — that were slashed and scratched in Hamburg’s main churches, St. Petri and St. Jacobi, between May 26-31. Citing “Islamic hatred for Christian values,” the report says:

“Church desecrations have been increasing in the best Germany we have ever had for years. Saints are spat on, crosses desecrated, people urinate in holy water fonts. … Churches, chapels, cemeteries, even summit crosses [attacked] by Muslims are on the increase.”

Corsica: The heads of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus were decapitated from a statue standing in Ajaccio, the capital of the French island which in recent years has taken in Muslim migrants. …

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(Excerpt from Gatestone Institute. Photo Credit: Canva)