The drama of Christians in
the Muslim world

Some messages which are circulating on social networks speak of the drama that Christians have faced in recent months as a result of the attacks in Asia by the terrorist group called the Islamic State and in Africa by fundamentalists of Boko Haram. This name comes from an expression that, in the local language means "non-Islamic education is a sin".

One of the most affected localities, at least with regard to what the press has reported, is the Nigerian city of Berry, in the state of Borno. (To learn more about the massacre of Berry, click this link: http://internacional.estadao.com.br/blogs/gustavo-chacra/manual-para-entender-o-massacre-de-baga-na-nigeria/.)

Earlier this year, the Portuguese newspaper Observer reported: "Since the end of the year, more than 10 thousand people have left the area in fear of the arrival of the terrorists." "The human carnage carried out by fundamentalists of Boko Haram in Baga is huge," said Muhammad Abba Gava, civil combatants spokesman who tried to stop the advance of the terrorists of Boko Haram, which aim is to deploy at any cost one Caliphate in the region, along the lines of the jihadists of Islamic State who have been spreading terror in large areas of Iraq and Syria.

The extremists themselves confess authorship of crimes. In a video posted on YouTube, its leader claimed the assault on the town of Berry, which left hundreds dead. "We killed the people of Berry. We killed as our God asked us to do in his book," said Abubakar Shekau. In the video, Shekau appears in front of four trucks and alongside eight armed men with their faces covered. "We will not stop. This was nothing, you'll see," said the leader of Boko Haram on the massacre of Berry, qualified by International Amnesty as the largest and most destructive attack in the six years of revolt of the Islamic group.

Since 2009, the Islamist insurgency and its repression by the Nigerian forces has left more than 13,000 dead and 1.5 million refugees. It is not, therefore, something fleeting and unimportant, as recognized by the Vatican agency Fides: "The crisis in Nigeria northeastern is spreading increasingly to neighboring countries, with threats, such as a video attributed to the leader of Boko Haram , Aboubakar Shekau, against the President of Cameroon, Paul Biya." In the video he threatened to "increase the violence in Cameroon if it does not abolish the Constitution and adopt the law of Islam."

The preferred target is, however, as everyone recognizes, Christians. According to a statement distributed by the Agency Ecclesia in early January, "about a thousand Christian churches in Nigeria have been destroyed in the last four years." According to a statement attributed to the Father Gideon Obasogie, responsible for social communications in the Diocese of Maiduguri, capital of Borno State in Nigeria northeastern, "only between the months of August and October 2014, it was looted and set fire on 185 churches in that territory at least." The priest believes that "190,000 people had to flee their homes to escape from death and many other have lost their lives."

Our planet passes, as we see, for a seizure never seen.

Terrorism in Asia and Africa. Racism and prejudice even in the football field. Wars, guerrilla and attacks which choose not the time or place. Widespread corruption worldwide, especially in Brazil - and there are still those who criticize the editorial content "What country is this," published in this magazine 403 - http://www.oconsolador.com.br/ano8/403/ editorial.html - which some spirits confreres, naively and certainly unrelated to what happens in the world, attributed to an outbreak of partisanship and ill will toward those who govern Brazil.

Laziness and passivity in no way contribute to leave behhind the above described facts. It is high time we meditate on the subtle warning contained in issue 932 of Spirits’ Book:

- Why in the world, so often, the bad influence of overcomes the good?

"Because of the weakness of these. The wicked are intriguing and audacious, the good are shy. When these want, they will overcome." (LE, 932.)

We do not consider ourselves good or better than anyone, but we reject this apathy, this indifference, this inertia that characterize much of the spirit press and, by extension, many spirits who confuse pacifism with passivity.