Islamists Unleash New Tactic In Its War To Obliterate Christianity In Northern Nigeria: Convert Or Die

Of course, this isn’t any surprise. It has always been their stated goal …

Revelation 13:15, “And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.”

Worship Allah. Or else.

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, The Jerusalem Post – “The al-Qaida-linked Islamic group Boko Haram unleashed a new tactic in its war to obliterate Christianity in northern Nigeria: convert or die.

Two gunmen from Boko Haram kidnapped Hajja, a 19- year-old Christian in July as she picked corn near her village in the Gwoza hills, a remote part of northeastern Nigeria where a six-month-old government offensive is struggling to contain an insurgency by Boko Haram.

‘If I cried, they beat me. If I spoke, they beat me. They told me I must become a Muslim but I refused again and again,’ Hajja told Reuters in an interview.

The Islamists threatened her with a knife pressed to her throat and said her options were to convert to Islam or die.

Aaron Jensen, a spokesman for the United States government’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, ‘We have seen reports of forced conversion and enslavement.

The United States strongly condemns any acts of forced conversion or enslavement if true. These alleged actions violate fundamental human rights, including the right to freedom of conscience.’

Boko Haram is generally translated as ‘Western education is sinful.’ In a telephone interview with the Post about Boko Haram and radical Islamist groups, David Cook, a professor of religious studies at the Houston-based Rice University, said Boko Haram’s methods are ‘part of a pattern you can find in a lot of groups, Salafi Jihadists, for example, in Syria.’

Cook, a leading expert on Boko Haram, estimates core membership to be a few thousand to perhaps as many as 5,000.

Tiffany Lynch, senior policy analyst at the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, told the Post by email that ‘Boko Haram’s stated goal is the implementation of Shari’a nationwide and in 2012 called on all Christians to leave northern Nigeria. With this goal, Boko Haram attacks churches during worship services to maximize its killing, kills individual Christians, forces Christians to convert to Islam or die, kills persons engaged in what it believes is ‘un-Islamic’ behavior, and kills Muslim critics.’

Lynch added that from January 1, 2012 through July 31, 2013, USCIRF found that Boko Haram had initiated religiously motivated attacks on 50 churches that were ‘bombed, burned or attacked, killing at least 366 persons.” She continued that there were 31 seperate attacks on Christians or southerners perceived to be Christian, ‘killing at least 166 persons.'” Read more.

Flashback: Nigeria: ‘Islamic Warrior’ Delighted In Chopping Off Heads, Says Islamic Agenda Is To Force Worship Of Allah, Wipe Out Christians – “Ask him and he bluntly tells you, ‘If we ask our victim, ‘Will you become a Muslim or not and he or she refuses, we will slaughter him like a goat…’ He talked of himself as an Islamic warrior who take delight in chopping off people’s head with a stroke of his dagger… ‘You people have only been hearing of Boko Haram, but there are other deadly Islamic groups who are also part of Boko Haram sect … Whenever we heard that any of the sects were fighting Christians, we would always join them …” Read more.