RUTHFULLY YOURS

The presidential election of 2008 seems so long ago.

When Barack Obama first ran for the presidency, he and his legions of supporters at the time assured us that if only we would elect him, the first black American president with an Islamic-sounding name, that “the world” would love us once more (as if those against whom we were fighting in places like Afghanistan and Iraq ever loved us to begin with.

If only Barack Hussein Obama would become the 44^th president of the United States, the murderous hatred of Islamic militants for America (and her allies) would all but vanish as America assumed a new course in foreign relations generally, and a new course vis-à-vis the Islamic world specifically.

The operating idea here was that the violence on display among Muslims was a response—usually referred to as “blowback”—to American imperialism. This in turn implied that if only we subtract the cause—American belligerence—we will subtract the effect, Islamic terrorism, violence, and hatred.

While under Barack Hussein Obama’s watch, Islamic militancy has only increased in scope and intensity.

During Barack Hussein Obama’s two terms as president, a time during which American soldiers left Iraq and during which the United States has broken bread with Iran, jihadists are on the march around the globe.

That is, it isn’t just Americans upon whom the militants have set their sights—exactly what we would not expect if the “blowback” theory was correct.

Now, seven years after Obama was first elected, we have ISIS, which the FBI just proclaimed is even more dangerous, more ruthless, than Al Qaeda.

And we have Boko Haram.

Just a few weeks ago, black Christians in Nigeria—not exactly your quintessential American imperialists—were blown to bits while praying in their church.

Boko Haram militants—“suicide bombers”—entered the Redeemed Christians Church of God in Northeastern Nigeria on July 5, while a service was in session.

By the time it was over with, the pastor and four other congregants were dead.

Among the dead were a mother and her two little children.

Open Doors, an organization dedicated to serving persecuted Christians throughout the world, relays an Associated Press account of the slaying:

“Police rushed to the church on Sunday.  Wailing women and stunned men wandered around the wreckage of smashed bricks and twisted zinc sheets blown off the church roof.  One congregant said the blast came from a woman in the congregation.”

The worshipper who shared this information refused to give her name for fear of retaliation.

Reportedly, a female terrorist arrived at the church disguised as a worshipper. Upon entering the building, she detonated the bomb that she had strapped on her person.

Later that night, after the church mass murder, Boko Haram struck again near a university.

Forty-four people were killed.

Open Doors’ site reports that these deaths brought the death toll in Nigeria for that week alone to over 200—all courtesy of Boko Haram.

The president and CEO of Open Doors, David Curry, told The Christian Post:

“The alarming trend of violence against Christians in Nigeria over the past months highlights the lack of religious freedom they [Christians] have and daily dangers they face from the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram and other violent organizations.”

Curry went on to state the obvious:

“Going to school, attending church or identifying yourself as a Christian is a very brave decision in Nigeria.”

Nigeria, he says, is “turning into a bloodbath.”

In Libya, on July 11, three African Christians—hardly American imperialists—were abducted by ISIS.   Last month, 88 Eritrean Christians met the same fate in Libya.

According to Open Doors, each month, 322 Christians are murdered for their faith; 772 suffer all manner of violence ranging from brutal beatings, kidnappings, rapes, arrests, and forced marriages; and 214 Christian properties and churches are destroyed.

Of the 50 countries around the world that are the worst places for the persecution of Christians, forty of them are Islamic lands.

American imperialism has nothing to do with any of this and Barack Obama and his party have done absolutely nothing to change a thing for the better in the Islamic world.