EuGene “Gene” Euell McLain of Plainview, Baptist deacon and former trustee of Wayland Baptist University, died Dec. 25, 2024. He was 89. He was born July 25, 1935, in Fox, Okla., to Woodie Albert and Blanche Shrader McLain. While growing up, his family moved between Oklahoma, Texas and California. He made his profession of faith in Jesus Christ during a tent revival in Bakersfield, Calif., and was baptized in a nearby irrigation canal. He graduated from Chillicothe (Texas) High School in 1956. He and classmate LaNeta Morris married April 19, 1957. After a brief time in Dalhart working at a Ford dealership, the couple moved to Plainview in 1962 to join LaNeta’s brother Ronald in the cottonseed delinting business. The McLains eventually owned Plainview Acid Delinting, where he was president of the business until they retired and closed the operation in 2007. They continued to warehouse the seed for farmers for another decade. The McLains were members of College Heights Baptist Church in Plainview, where he was the most longstanding member of record and a deacon. For decades, he also was the church treasurer, served on numerous committees and taught Sunday school. He served four terms as a trustee of Wayland Baptist University from 1981 to 1989, including a term as secretary of the board. “Gene McLain was a man of exceptional faith, integrity and humility,” said Wayland President Donna Hedgepath. “He brought a quiet strength to the board of trustees and an abiding dedication to advancing Wayland’s mission of Christian higher education. His impact is woven into the fabric of this institution, and his legacy of service will continue to inspire us all.” He was preceded in death by his wife of 65 years, LaNeta Morris McLain; and brothers Caril Andrew, Larry Earl and Waylan Alvin McLain. He is survived by son Jeffery; son Kevin and his wife Lana; daughter LaGena Horak and her husband Paul; five granddaughters; six great-grandchildren; and one great-great-granddaughter. Memorial gifts may be made to the Gene and LaNeta McLain Scholarship at Wayland Baptist University. Contributions can be sent to 1900 W. 7th Street, CMB 1295, Plainview, TX 79072, or online at give.wbu.edu.

Texans on Mission volunteers served more than 80,000 meals in Israel in 2024.

The Texas-based missions organization works in partnership with Israel’s Emergency Volunteer Project, which provided more than 800,000 using equipment and facilities Texans on Mission helped develop.

“We now have 10 feeding trailers/units, each with a generator, that can be deployed anywhere,” said John Travis Smith, Texans on Mission associate executive director. “We can house 40 volunteers in Israel and expand that number if we need to.”

Texans on Mission organizes disaster relief training trips to Israel throughout the year, and it deployed teams a year ago after Hamas attacked Israel. It held its last 2024 training session in November.

“We now have 165 people trained in kosher protocols” required for food service in Israel, said Gary Finley, Texans on Mission Israel volunteer coordinator. “This would staff all 10 kitchens for two weeks. We are continuing training in 2025.”

More trained volunteers are still needed, Finley added.

“If there were a major disaster, we would run short of trained volunteers. So we need more,” he said.

A ‘roller coaster year’ in Israel

Finley called 2024 a “roller coaster year” in Israel. The year began with the emergency response when multiple Texans on Mission teams served, which was followed by regular training trips, and then the entire team was placed on standby when the conflict in Lebanon escalated.

In a Dec. 18 email to trained volunteers he said: “For now we will remain on alert. I ask that you continue to pray for peace and safety for our partners over there.”

Monthly training trips will resume in March 2025 and then skip April as Jews worldwide observe Passover.

In November, the last training of 2024, Texans on Mission volunteer trainees prepared, cooked and served more than 3,000 meals alongside EVP workers. They trained to cook kosher meals to prepare for any future deployments to deliver relief when needed.

Texans on Mission volunteers said they also found the work in Israel inspiring.

It was “very humbling for me to serve a people who are fighting for their very existence,” said Texans on Mission volunteer Cheryl Terry.

“I absolutely feel that I receive a blessing each time I serve. Everyone that can physically go would see and experience the people of Israel and the resilience of spirit. They have been an inspiration to me personally.”

Volunteers also had opportunities to explore historic sites. “To be able to possibly walk where Jesus did is just inspiring to me,” said Texans on Mission volunteer Jerry Ickes.

Texans on Mission volunteer Kelton Gunter said: “You just have to see it and live it a bit to get any sense of it. I highly recommend people take this opportunity, not only to help during the training mission, but to be qualified to serve when the next emergency happens.”

The training efforts did not go unnoticed by the people of Israel. “When they see us working very hard, … they know we have traveled thousands of miles to help them and prove that we care,” Gunter said.

Taryn Johnson, Texans on Mission social media strategist, said it was a blessing to see “such humble servants eager to help those in need. A trip to Israel is one that requires flexibility and determination, and every volunteer exuded these traits with a smile. They highly recommended others volunteer for mass feeding in Israel, and for that we are grateful.”

A new registration process for Israel training trips has been implemented. Visit the Texans on Mission webpage, TexansOnMission.org/Israel, to learn more details about the trips and to register.

An airstrike on a Baptist church in Sudan less than a week before Christmas killed at least 11 people, including eight children, an organization focused on international religious freedom reported.

The Sudan Armed Forces airstrike hit Al Ezba Baptist Church in Khartoum North on Dec. 20. It damaged the worship facility, the church’s nursery—which was occupied at the time—and several residential buildings, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported.

Less than a week after the airstrike on the mosque, more than 100 civilians were killed when the Sudan Armed Forces hit a crowded marketplace in Kabkabiya in western Darfur.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reported in April more than 150 churches had been damaged since the war in Sudan began in 2023.

“We pray for God to give the two warring parties the wisdom to stop the war. The longer it continues, the more innocent children and civilians will die,” Pastor Philemon Hassan of Al Ezba Baptist Church said.

“In Al Ezba area, people are dying either in this way or for the lack of basic humanitarian needs. Some can’t afford to leave the area, and those who can, are afraid to leave because they could be arrested for falsely being affiliated with the RSF.”

In October, more than 100 members of the Sudanese Church of Christ moved from Al Ezba to Shendi in River Nile State, seeking to escape the violence. In Shendi, 26 men were arrested by the Sudan Armed Forces Military Intelligence Unit and accused of being affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces.

Khataza Gondwe, advocacy director for CSW, expressed condolences to the families of those killed and injured in the Dec. 20 airstrike.

“It is particularly deplorable that most of the fatalities were children who died in a place where they should have been safe. The high number of child casualties illustrates the continuing disregard for civilian lives by both warring parties throughout this conflict,” he said.

“In addition, the persistent targeting of places of worship violates international humanitarian and human rights law egregiously, and may constitute a war crime, especially when these premises are being used to meet the sharp rise in humanitarian needs generated by the ongoing conflict.

“CSW continues to call on both the SAF and the RSF to agree to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, to ensure the protection of civilians, and to bring an end to the severe human rights and humanitarian crises in the country.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Attacks on houses of worship continued after Christmas.  On Dec. 30, Sudan Rapid Support Forces attacked a Sudanese Church of Christ in Al Hasaheisa, Gezira State, during a prayer service, forcing the 177 Christians who had gathered to leave, CSW reported. At least 14 people were assaulted and insured.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Prior to Christmas, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of all but three people on federal death row, converting their sentences to life in prison.

It represented a victory for religious advocates who have pressured the president to make the move during his final days in office—even as they call on him to “finish the job” by commuting the remaining three.

Biden, who campaigned on the promise of abolishing the federal death penalty, announced the move Dec 23. He framed the action partially as a response to remarks by President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to restart executions upon assuming office.

“Guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice president and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” Biden stated. “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”

The news comes 10 days after Biden announced he would commute the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the pandemic, as well as pardoning 39 people convicted of nonviolent crimes—the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.

The White House explained Biden believes “America must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level, except in cases of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder—which is why today’s actions apply to all but those cases.”

Praised as an ‘act of mercy’

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, celebrated the move as an “act of mercy” that brings the country “a step closer to building a culture of life.” He also called on lawmakers to eliminate the death penalty entirely.

“My brother bishops and I unite in expressing our gratitude that President Biden has commuted the federal death sentences of 37 men,” Broglio stated. “The bishops’ conference has long called for an end to the use of the death penalty. This action by the president is a significant step in advancing the cause of human dignity in our nation.”

Similarly, Gabe Salguero, head of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, noted while he and other Latino evangelicals “grieve for the victims and unequivocally condemn these murders,” he nonetheless welcomed the news.

“Today’s Advent season decision by President Biden to commute the death sentences of 37 federal inmates is a reminder that as a nation we must still grapple with the inequities that plague this system,” Salguero said, noting NALEC became the first national evangelical group to call for an end to the death penalty in 2015.

The Catholic Mobilizing Network also celebrated the decision as “unparalleled.”

“Today’s historic decision by President Biden advances the cause of human dignity and underscores the sacred value of every human life,” read a statement from the group. “Praise God!”

’37 is good, but 40 is better’

But some of the advocates, including Shane Claiborne, a Christian activist who has spent years protesting the death penalty, noted that while the announcement allows 37 people facing capital punishment to instead serve life in prison, three men will remain on death row.

They are Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing; Robert Bowers, convicted in the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue attack in Pittsburgh, Penn.; and Dylann Roof, who killed nine Black worshippers in 2015 at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.

“The death penalty does not heal the wounds of violence, it just creates new wounds,” Claiborne said in a text message to Religion News Service. “We can honor the victims of violence without killing more people. It’s time to stop killing to try to show that killing is wrong.”

He added: “37 is good but 40 is better. No one—not even Dylann Roof—is beyond redemption.”

Claiborne was echoed by fellow advocate Sharon Risher, whose cousins and mother, Ethel Lance, were among the nine church members killed in the 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel Church.

“Every time this case comes up, I am brought back to the day my mother and cousins were murdered, and I need that to stop,” Risher said.

“Politics has gotten in the way of mercy. You can’t rank victims, Mr. President. I am begging you to finish the job, not only with the three men left on federal death row, but also with those on the military death row. There’s still time. Finish the job.”

Anti-death penalty activist Jeff Hood did not consider commuting the death sentences of 93 percent of the inmates on federal death row a passing grade.

“Just when I thought Joe Biden was going to give our nation some ethical clarity, he has presented us with a new nightmare—the ranking of murder victims. Either Biden finishes the job and commutes all federal death sentences or we are left in the same place we were before—a moral abyss of federal sentencing that only pursues death sentences in rare cases, prioritizing some murder victims above all others,” Hood wrote on social media.

“This is not time for celebration. We are in the same moral abyss we were in before. Regardless of how many death sentences President Biden just commuted, by not commuting them all he has made sure that the killing will continue.”

Urged to act by faith leaders

Biden’s announcement comes after a blitz of public and private advocacy by faith leaders and activists.

In mid-December, a group of religious leaders, activists and law enforcement officials traveled to Washington to stage a day of advocacy around the issue. Members of the group held a vigil outside the White House and spoke at a hearing on Capitol Hill alongside lawmakers such as U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., who has cited her own Christian faith as part of the inspiration for her involvement.

The effort also got a high-profile boost from Pope Francis—who changed the catechism of the Catholic Church in 2018 to declare the death penalty “inadmissible”—when he devoted a section of a homily earlier this month to the subject. He asked Catholics to pray that Biden, a Catholic, would commute the death sentences of those on death row.

“Think of these brothers and sisters of ours and ask the Lord for the grace to save them from death,” Francis said.

In a letter sent to Biden last week, Risher, who also serves as chair of Death Penalty Action, expressed concern Trump would restart federal executions upon taking office next month.

“It is vital that you deny him that opportunity by commuting every death sentence remaining on federal and military death rows,” Risher wrote.

‘All lives are sacred’

Marshall Dayan, a retired federal public defender living in Pittsburgh and cochair of the board of Pennsylvanians Against the Death Penalty, said he was pleased with Biden’s 37 commutations but disappointed he didn’t commute all 40 death-row inmates.

“All lives are sacred. We’re all created with ‘t’zelem elohim,’ in the image of God. And yet, the message this sends is that there’s a hierarchy of values,” he said. “I don’t think the president believes that. But it is the message that he sends by saying, ‘I’m going to treat these three people differently.’”

But Dayan said he was aware that many in the Pittsburgh community did not want the sentence of Robert Bowers commuted, as views regarding the death penalty for the three men left on death row are not uniform.

Last year, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro explained his own opposition to the death penalty by citing conversations he had with the families of those killed in the Tree of Life shooting and members of the worship community, indicating several do not support capital punishment.

Even so, seven of the nine families involved have previously indicated support for the death penalty, and the sons of Joyce Fienberg, who was killed in the shooting, sent a letter to Biden this month asking the president not to commute Bowers’ sentence, arguing the shooter did not show remorse.

“In Judaism, T’shuvah—repentance, or a return to righteousness—requires confession, regret, and seeking to right the wrongs committed,” read the letter, signed by Anthony and Howard Fienberg. “Absent that, forgiveness is not even possible.”

Similarly, some parents of children who were killed and wounded during the Boston bombing publicly voiced opposition to the death penalty in the case, but others have suggested support for it.

Biden declared his desire to abolish the federal death penalty while campaigning in 2019, and placed a moratorium on federal executions in 2021. But he did not ultimately eliminate the death penalty, nor did he stop the Department of Justice from prosecuting capital punishment cases during his tenure, frustrating many advocates.

But religious activists who oppose the death penalty say they will continue to pressure Biden to commute the sentences of those still on death row, arguing their cause is ultimately a matter of faith.

“Rather than asking, ‘Do they deserve to die,’ we should be asking ‘Do we deserve to kill?’” Claiborne said. “As Jesus said, ‘Let the one without sin cast the first stone.’”

With additional reporting by Bob Smietana of RNS and Baptist Standard Managing Editor Ken Camp.

WASINGTON (RNS)—A report by Pew Research Center on international religious freedom named Egypt, Syria, Pakistan and Iraq as the countries where both government restrictions and social hostility most limit the ability of religious minorities to practice their faith.

Governmental attacks and social hostility toward various religions usually “go hand in hand,” said the report, the 15th annual edition of a report that tracks the evolution of governments restrictions on religion.

The report uses two indexes created by the center in 2007, the Government Restrictions Index and the Social Hostilities Index, to rank countries’ levels of government restrictions on religion and attitudes of societal groups and organizations toward religion.

The GRI focuses on 20 criteria, including government efforts to ban a faith, limit conversions and preaching, and preferential treatment of one or many religious groups.

The SHI’s 13 criteria take into account mob violence, hostilities in the name of religion and religious bias crimes.

Study examines 198 countries

The study looks at the situation in 198 countries in 2022, the latest year for which data are available from such agencies as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the U.S. Department of State and the FBI.

The report also contains findings from independent and nongovernmental organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Anti-Defamation League, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

In total, 24 countries received high or very high GRI scores (4.5 or higher on a scale of 10) and high or very high SHI scores (higher than 3.6 out of 10). Close behind the four countries that scored very high on both scales were India, Israel and Nigeria.

Thirty-two other countries, including Turkistan, Cuba and China, scored high or very high on government restrictions, but low or moderate on social hostility. Most were rated as “undemocratic” and “authoritarian” by The Economist magazine’s Democracy Index.

“Such regimes may tightly control religion as part of broader restrictions on civil liberties,” reads the report. Many Central Asian countries and post-Soviet countries fell into that category, noted Samirah Majumdar, lead researcher of the report, part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project.

Besides ranking countries where religions were under the most pressure, the team that put together the report tried to determine “whether countries with government restrictions tend to be places where they also have social hostilities; Do countries with relatively few government restrictions also tend to be places where they have relatively few social hostilities?” explained Majumdar.

Majumdar said the results were inconclusive.

“We can’t exactly determine a causal link, but there are some patterns we were able to observe in the different groupings,” she said. “A lot of those countries have had sectarian tensions and violence reported over the years. In some cases, government actions can go hand in hand with what is happening socially in those countries.”

Countries with low or moderate scores on both indexes—a GRI no higher than 4.4 out of 10 and an SHI between 0 and 3.5—usually had populations under 60 million inhabitants.

The index factors the same criteria over the years, and the team relies on the same sources, allowing for comparisons from one year to another. From 2021 to 2022, median GRI and SHI scores stayed the same, but in sub-Saharan Africa, the GRI rose from 2.6 to 3.0 out of 10. In Middle Eastern and North African countries, the index went from 5.9 to 6.1.

High levels of government, social hostility in Nigeria

Among the 45 countries that presented high or very high SHI scores, Nigeria was the first of the seven countries with very high levels, a result linked to gang violence against religious groups and violence by militant groups Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa, which rages in the Sahel desert.

Iraq, which ranks among the countries with both high GRI and SHI, also finds itself among the countries with the highest social hostilities, and has seen its social hostility score increase. The report attributed this to violence against religious minorities imprisoned by Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces.

It also cited a 2024 Amnesty International report on outbreaks of gender-based violence in Iraqi Kurdistan, with many occurrences of women being killed by male family members, sometimes for converting to another religion.

According to the report, physical harassment against religious groups by government or social groups peaked in 2022. This category covered acts from verbal abuse to displacements, killings or damage to an organization’s property.

The study highlighted 26,000 displaced people from Tibetan communities in China and continued gang violence targeting religious leaders by Haitian gangs.

Overall, the number of countries where physical harassment took place increased to 145 in 2022, against 137 countries in 2021.

(RNS)—Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday, Dec. 29, at age 100, was known most as the 39th president of the United States. But he also will be remembered as the world’s most famous Sunday school teacher.

Carter, who spoke openly about his Baptist faith while campaigning for the White House in 1976, earned the votes of many evangelical Christians when he called himself “born again.”

Carter died at his home in Plains, Ga., surrounded by family, according to a statement on The Carter Center website.

“My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,” said his son Chip Carter in the statement. “My brothers, sister, and I shared him with the rest of the world through these common beliefs.”

After leaving the White House in 1981, Carter spent decades as a humanitarian and advocate for peace—building houses with Habitat for Humanity, monitoring elections in dozens of countries, helping fight against Guinea worm disease.

Still, more Sundays than not, the former president had a regular appointment: teaching Sunday school in his rural Georgia Baptist church, Maranatha Baptist Church.

His wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter, died at the age of 96 on Nov. 19, 2023.

“Jimmy Carter’s identity is inseparable from his almost lifelong vocation—60, 70 years—as a Sunday school teacher,” said historian Bill Leonard, professor of divinity emeritus at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. “He has lived every week of his adult life in the study and teaching of the Scriptures.”

Only US president to teach Sunday school while in office

Carter was the only U.S. president to have taught Sunday school while in office, according to the White House Historical Association. William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt taught Sunday school before entering the White House, and Benjamin Harrison led a Bible study class after his presidency at First Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis.

Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, spoke matter-of-factly about his long-term Bible teaching in a 2014 appearance at the LBJ Presidential Library.

“I belong to Maranatha Baptist Church and that’s where I teach Sunday school every Sunday—last Sunday and this next Sunday as well—about 35 times a year,” he said.

“I had been teaching Bible lessons since I was a midshipman in Annapolis, 18 years old.”

His practical lessons attracted hundreds to his rural Georgia church on a Sunday as he related the verses of the Bible to the challenges of modern times.

“What I try to do each Sunday is begin my lesson for about 10 or 15 minutes discussing current events, the recent experiences that I have had or where I’m going next week,” he told Religion News Service, in 2011. “And then seeing how that applies to biblical principles, basic moral values that apply to every human life.”

Through the Year with Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President, published that year, featured summaries of the 45-minute lessons he taught over the years, including at First Baptist Church in Washington when he was in the White House in the 1970s.

Born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains, Carter graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946 and served as a naval officer until 1953, including duty aboard the USS Pomfret, a submarine, according to his biography on the Carter Presidential Library website. He retired from active duty after the death of his father.

He returned to Georgia with his wife—whom he married the same year he earned his naval commission—and took over the family farm supply business. He also began a steady rise in Georgia politics, serving in several local roles before being elected to the Georgia Senate and moving to the governor’s mansion in 1971.

Five years later, he was elected the president. Abandoned by evangelical voters—who objected to his liberal stands on some issues—and dogged by a poor economy and the Iranian hostage crisis, he lost his bid for reelection in 1980 to Ronald Reagan. With Reagan’s election, the evangelical Christian bloc moved to the Republican Party.

Throughout Carter’s political career, he remained active in local church life.

Break with SBC

He eventually would make a public break with the Southern Baptist Convention after the denomination revised its statement of faith to call for women to submit to their husbands and banning women from serving as pastors. Still, he continued to attend Maranatha Baptist, which is affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Despite their significant theological disagreements, leaders of Carter’s former denomination admired his commitment to the teaching of Scripture.

“History will record that no president of the United States demonstrated a greater long-term commitment to identifying with the Christian faith and with even the teaching of the Bible than Jimmy Carter,” said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., in a 2019 interview.

The small Plains church, which seats 300, drew its largest crowd to see Carter—878—in the 2000s. That’s more than the town’s population.

On such occasions, there was overflow seating in a fellowship hall.

“We stacked them wherever we could put ’em,” Maranatha member Jan Williams recalled of the day when nine motorcoaches arrived with the record number of attendees and some only heard audio piped into rooms outside the sanctuary. “Some of ’em just heard him. They didn’t see his face until after church.”

Maranatha members sometimes added chairs to the choir loft.

“People want this opportunity, and you don’t want to send them away,” Williams said.

Though the curious came to see him, Williams said Carter’s intention was that they leave with more than a photo with the former first couple.

“This has been part of his identity,” said Randall Balmer, author of Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter. “He’s very proud of this. He numbers all of his lessons, so he knows how many he taught.”

Steven Hochman, who served as assistant to Carter and director of research at the Carter Center, said in 2019 that the former president had taught more than 2,000 Sunday school lessons.

Tony Lowden, former pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church, told Religion News Service in June 2022 that Carter was no longer attending in person at that time, but “I bring church to him,” ministering to the former president and his wife during the week.

“He’s more than Sunday school,” Lowden added. “His walk is every day with the Lord.”

BWA mourns his loss

In a release, the Baptist World Alliance spoke of Carter’s “long history of involvement with the Baptist World Alliance” and “his remarkable work for justice and peace around the world.”

He served as Honorary Chair of the BWA’s Special Commission of Baptists Against Racism in 1992, and he was the recipient of the first BWA Congress Quinquennial Human Rights Award in 1995.

Former BWA General Secretary Denton Lotz presented the award to Carter during the Baptist World Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, “in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the cause of human rights around the world and his commitment to Christian peace and justice.”

In his acceptance speech, Carter noted: “I’m proud to be part of the BWA—one hundred million men and women around the world who don’t let political values separate us from one another. We see ourselves as brothers and sisters, regardless of our ethnic or racial differences, our political philosophies. We are joined together in a common faith, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”

“On behalf of the BWA, we give thanks for the life of President Carter and his tireless work for human rights around the globe,” Elijah Brown, BWA General Secretary and CEO, noted in a statement on his passing. “Carter was a living embodiment that politics is not the pinnacle of public service.

“As a believer in the Baptist tradition, his faith was a call to all of us to remain deeply rooted in a local church community while working for peace and serving our neighbors with the good that each one of us can do.”

Brown concluded, “We hold the Carter family in our prayers, and we commit to honor the legacy of our brother in Christ by continuing our work for human rights and religious freedom worldwide.”

With additional reporting by Calli Keener.

For the 10th consecutive year, death sentences in Texas remained in single digits—a historically low use of capital punishment, a year-end report from the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty noted.

However, “Texas Death Penalty Developments in 2024: The Year in Review,” released Dec. 19, points to continued racial bias and wrongful convictions in the state’s administration of capital punishment.

“Even as use of the death penalty remains historically low in Texas, it continues to be imposed disproportionately on people of color and dependent largely on geography,” said Kristin Houlé Cuellar, executive director of the coalition that produced the report.

Texas executed five prisoners in 2024: Ivan Abner Cantu on Feb. 28, Ramiro Felix Gonzales on June 26, Arthur Lee Burton on Aug. 7, Travis James Mullis on Sept. 24 and Garcia Glen White on Oct. 1. Two were Black, two were Hispanic, and one was white.

Individuals receiving death sentences in 2024 were Victor Godinez on Jan. 31, Paige Terrell Lawyer on April 24, Jerry Elders on May 2, Gregory Newson on Nov. 13, Christopher Turner on Nov. 20 and Jason Thornburg on Dec. 4.  Five of the six who were sentenced to die are people of color.

‘Inequity based on race’

John Litzler, director of public policy for Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission, called the information in the report “disheartening but not surprising.”

“The adage ‘justice is blind’ is a common way to refer to a sense of fairness in our judicial system, but since its inception, capital punishment in Texas has been fraught with issues of inequity based on race,” Litzler said.

The disparity is based not only on the race of the perpetrator, but also on the race of the victim, he noted.

“A defendant is four to five times more likely to receive a death sentence when the victim is white than when the victim was Black,” Litzler said.

The report notes of the 591 executions Texas has carried out since 1982, 115 involved Black people convicted of killing white victims. Only six have involved white people convicted of killing Black victims.

“Overall, 411 of the 591 executions in Texas have involved white victims,” Cuellar noted in response to a question from the Baptist Standard.

Litzler commented: “These statistics and those in the report are in direct contrast to the values and beliefs of Texas Baptists who have repeatedly affirmed that all life is inherently valuable and precious.”

“We should be compelled by both our Christian faith and the American pledge of ‘liberty and justice for all’ to take action,” he said.

“The CLC encourages all Texas Baptists to be knowledgeable and informed about the criminal justice practices in their district, to vote, to participate in jury duty, and to advocate for legislation aimed at removing racial inequality from our system of justice.”

‘Arbitrary nature of the system’

While both the number of death sentences handed down and the number of executions carried out in the state dropped precipitously in recent years, Texas has executed more than any other state since 1982.

Texas was one of nine states that carried out executions in 2024, with Alabama accounting for the most, with six people put to death. Alabama, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma were responsible for more than three-fourths of the executions. The other states that performed executions were Florida, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah.

Texas juries sent six individuals to Death Row in 2024, with three of those sentences handed down by Tarrant County juries. Since 1974, Tarrant County juries have sentenced 76 people to be executed.

One-third of all death sentences in the past five years have come from Tarrant County and Harris County. Juries in only 13 of the state’s 254 counties have imposed new death sentences in the last five years.

“The TCADP annual report for 2024 makes me wonder when the state of Texas will finally decide that maintaining the machinery of death is just not worth it. It is not worth the threat to innocent life, the racially unjust application of the system, and just not worth the cost,” said Stephen Reeves, executive director of Fellowship Southwest.

 “While I’m glad there are so few death sentences handed down, and so few executions, it only highlights the arbitrary nature of the system.”

Wrongful convictions

The report also highlights the problem of wrongful convictions.

In death penalty cases involving Melissa Lucio and Kerry Max Cook, courts made determinations of “actual innocence.” Cook was exonerated by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals nearly 50 years after his conviction. In Lucio’s case, the appeals court is considering whether to accept the trial court’s recommendation to overturn her conviction.

Ivan Abner Cantu was executed in spite of recanted testimony by a key witness and evidence another witness lied at his 2021 trial. Questions about the case prompted the foreman of the jury that convicted him to call for a halt in his execution.

However, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously denied Cantu’s clemency application, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied his request for a stay of execution.

James Harris Jr., who was scheduled for execution in March, received a stay of execution from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. He and his attorneys asserted the jury selection process was tainted because it dramatically reduced the likelihood of Black potential jurors being called to serve.

Ruben Gutierrez received a last-minute stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court in July. Gutierrez and his lawyers assert DNA testing will confirm he did not kill Ecolastica Harrison in Cameron County in 1998.

The most high-profile case involved Robert Roberson, who faced execution in October before receiving a last-minute temporary stay from the Texas Supreme Court. Roberson was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter Nikki, based largely on the discredited “shaken baby syndrome” hypothesis.

Roberson’s attorneys point out new medical and scientific evidence indicates the chronically ill child died of serious health issues, including undiagnosed pneumonia, not homicide.

The case drew attention from a bipartisan group of state lawmakers who took the unusual step of issuing a subpoena for Roberson to appear before the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence.

“The fact that two former death row inmates were declared actually innocent this year alone ought to be enough to stop the march towards state-sponsored killing,” Reeves said.

“The Roberson case proves that even when laws are written to try and stop executions based on bad science, the system still fails the innocent.

“It is well past time that Texas ends this barbaric and unjust practice.”

(RNS)—In a May 2023 advisory, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called attention to the “public health crisis of loneliness, isolation and lack of connection in the U.S. today.”

In his plan to address this crisis, he listed faith groups as key players in the solution: “Religious or faith-based groups can be a source for regular social contact, serve as a community of support, provide meaning and purpose, create a sense of belonging around shared values and beliefs, and are associated with reduced risk-taking behaviors.”

While the directive was meant more generally, faith leaders and mental health experts say religious traditions and faith communities can play a key role in helping people get through the winter holidays, when rates of depression and anxiety are proven to increase.

From food drives to special services, like “lessons and carols,” to extra events and gatherings that often include a shared meal, many houses of worship are bustling with activity and opportunities to engage with community in December.

Showing up

“During the holidays, we are practicing relational spirituality and engaging in our awakened brain,” said Lisa Miller, a professor of psychology and education at Columbia University’s Teachers College. “We are actually showing up for one another to be loving, to be holding, to be guiding and never leave anyone alone.”

For many, the winter holidays are a time of grief, loss or perhaps heightened levels of depression and anxiety. A poll by the American Psychological Association found 41 percent of adults in the United States say their stress increases during the holidays.

Additionally, the National Alliance on Mental Illness found 64 percent of people living with a mental illness reported their conditions worsen around the holidays.

Miller, who founded the Spirituality Mind Body Institute, described the winter holiday season as the “Sabbath of the year” and said spirituality is a “clear antidote” to the unprecedented rise in so-called diseases of despair—alcoholism, drug use and suicide—in the United States.

This is the time when all those activities houses of worship engage in can really shine, Miller says: creating space for people to come share their feelings, singing together, participating in a prayer and inviting people to give back to their community through charity.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, both religion and spirituality can have a positive impact on mental health, though often in different ways.

In general, religion gives people something to believe in, provides a sense of structure and typically connects people with similar beliefs. Meanwhile, the group describes spirituality as a sense of connection to something bigger, aiding in self-reflection and exploration of how one fits into the rest of the world.

While the research has been mixed on the connection between religiosity and overall health, a 2019 Pew Research Study found more than one-third of “actively religious” adults say they are “very happy” compared to a quarter of religiously inactive and unaffiliated Americans.

Sarah Lund, the minister for Disabilities and Mental Health Justice at the United Church of Christ, agreed faith communities are considered some of the key places to improve the mental health of Americans.

Gift of connection

“We don’t realize what a gift it is to be connected to each other and to have weekly gatherings where we share space, share community, break bread together, have friendships and build relationships through prayer, through Bible study and through worship,” Lund said.

And for people struggling with grief, disability or mental health during the holidays, Lund said support from a community, like a congregation, can help. She noted that some churches offer “Blue Christmas” services—opportunities to honor people who have lost loved ones and are experiencing grief—and expressed hope that congregations might consider ways to incorporate such acknowledgements all year.

Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Robinson held its first “Blue Christmas” service this year, called “A Service of Peace: Reflecting on Loss in a Season of Hopeful Anticipation.”

Meadowbrook Executive Pastor David Cozart explained the pastoral team wrestled for some time with knowing there was a need to offer such a service, but not knowing exactly “how to do it in a way that created an intentional pause, without forcing people to relive some of their most painful moments.”

They determined last year they were going to make sure it was accomplished this year, he said. Those who came to the intimate service expressed gratitude, noting while they didn’t know what to expect, they also didn’t know how much they needed it.

Cozart said he hopes it’s a service the church continues to offer every Christmas.

First Baptist Church in Allen has held similar services in past years, but because they are in an interim season, only offered the annual GriefShare: Surviving the Holidays event this year. The event offered video presentations from grief experts and discussion—as a typical grief group session would—but was open to anyone in the church or community dealing with loss, Jimmy Smith, generations pastor at the church, explained.

For some in attendance, it would be their first holiday without the person whose loss brought them to the event. Others were more seasoned in grief, but they all were able to share their struggles and personal grief journey through the holidays.

Smith described it as “a beautiful and sacred time, as we get to hear from one another, encourage one another and support one another.

“Every participant was given a workbook that had devotionals and helps for the holidays and a cross ornament they could put on their tree as a way to remember and honor their loved one,” Smith explained.

Continuing the work

“After the holidays is when people feel that kind of letdown,” Lund said. “As people of faith, there’s an opportunity to continue the intentional work about inclusion and supporting people’s mental health and accommodating the needs of people who have disabilities.”

“A strong spiritual life is more protective against addiction, more protective against depression, more protective even against suicide than anything else known to the social or medical sciences,” Miller said.

“When we look at hundreds of peer-reviewed articles, we see that the magnitude of the protective benefits of spiritual life are pointing to a way forward for our country.”

With additional reporting by Calli Keener.

BROWNSVILLE—Texans on Mission assembled a “dream team” of volunteers to bring Christmas—and its Christ-focused message—to the Rio Grande Valley Dec. 13-19.

“This year’s annual Christmas in the Rio Grande Valley really featured a dream team of volunteers,” said Sabrina Pinales, director of missions and discipleship with Texans on Mission.

“We had a group of 11 students from Go Now Missions, a six-person team from Watermark Health, eight members of Grapevine’s First Baptist Church, and a group of new and repeat volunteers.”

The volunteers concentrated their efforts in the Brownsville, Mission and Donna areas. They also partnered with local churches Iglesia Bautista Horeb and Casa de Oracion Church to reach into several communities, many of them with underserved families.

Billye Rhudy of Coryell Community Church in Gatesville noted it was her second time volunteering with the Christmas in the Valley event, along with her husband, Sam.

“Part of our purpose is to serve the community,” she explained. “And we want the community to know that Jesus loves them.”

The group held several events designed to benefit the communities they served.

Volunteers:

• Painted the interior of Casa de Oracion and built a new fence on its property.
• Served lunches to teachers and staff of local schools.
• Distributed Christmas gifts such as toys, warm blankets and food donated statewide through Texans on Mission.
• Built and assembled beds for families.
• Held medical clinics.

All of these ministries, Pinales said, “worked together to bring the Christmas message and our Texans on Mission brand of help, hope and healing to the Valley.”

Olber Roblero, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Horeb, said the team also magnified the efforts of his congregation to reach into their surrounding community.

“Texans on Mission is helping our church and the community in different ways. First of all, they are helping us build relationships with the schools and the community and the church itself. So, by doing that, we are showing Christ’s love to the people who don’t know Christ yet.

“The other way they’re helping us is to strengthen the relationships that we already have with the resources they’re bringing all the way from the north, from all over the place and from different churches, and putting together a team to be able to come here.”

Providing for those in need

During one of the community distributions, the team gave toys, blankets and food to children determined to be unaccompanied immigrant minors from two area shelters.

For Billye Rhudy, it was an opportunity to speak her faith to this special group.

“Our heart is always with those who are disenfranchised and those who come across and don’t have a home,” Rhudy said.

The Watermark Health team provided health clinics two days at Iglesia Horeb. Team member and physician assistant Megan Landon, who provided consultations to families, said the team sought to “provide the community with resources to navigate the U.S. healthcare system.”

The team dealt with “complaints that patients might have, such as pain or chronic conditions that patients need to be followed up with, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. We’re also seeing things like viral illnesses, coughs, colds, flus.”

The team saw more patients than the clinic’s daily capacity, she said, leading her to believe “that the people here need access to healthcare that is affordable or free, and it’s difficult to get that in the U.S. sometimes.”

The Christmas in the Rio Grande Valley effort fit the mission of Watermark Health, a ministry of Watermark Church in Dallas, Landon said.

“We exist to glorify God and make disciples. So, we want to make disciples of all nations,” she said. “By serving here, we want to share the hope we have in Jesus Christ, and so we’re hoping to tell people about the salvation and joy they can receive from knowing Jesus.”

Serving the community

Go Now Missionary Angelica Martinez, a student at the University of Texas–Rio Grande Valley, paused from her duties serving brisket lunches to teachers at Senator Eddie A. Lucio Jr. Middle School to share her perspective on the Go Now Missions team experience.

“We’re serving our community and the teachers, showing our faith and expressing to them how much Christ loves them,” she said.

Cal Vande Zande of Grapevine’s First Baptist Church was part of a team that built and distributed beds and mattresses to families in need “on the very first day. And that was by cutting lumber to dimension, cutting it all to size, and then building a bed to make sure that it worked, and then practicing putting it together.”

The team distributed and assembled the beds the next day, Vande Zande said, explaining conditions in the homes “varied quite a bit.”

“Some of the homes were nice, other ones not so much. There was one room that we got into where there was just barely enough space for the bed, and it was very difficult for the people to put the bed together, but they got the job done,” he said.

Claire Golema, another Grapevine’s First Baptist member, helped assemble and distribute the beds as well.

“I got to go out and give out two of the beds to the children, and they were just so excited to have a bed,” she said. “I can’t imagine not having my own bed or even my own room, and these beds were going into basically the first room you walked into in the house, but they were so excited that they had a bed, that it was theirs.”

Golema also helped serve lunches to school teachers, an act she said “really opened the conversation between them and the church that is across the street, that perhaps they pass every day and didn’t realize was there. And so, that’s been a really good way to reach out to them and to help them to know that God isn’t just in a building. God is outside of the building.

“I hope that they would see that God can change things—that he’s relevant for their life. I think that’s my prayer—that people would see God differently because of what we’ve done this week.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The 3rd and 4th paragraphs were updated, along with the 4th paragraph in the “Providing for those in need” section, when additional information was made available.

Many human rights advocates greeted the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with relief and optimism, but some groups focused on international religious freedom view Syria’s future with more questions than answers.

The overthrow of the Assad government signaled the end to more than 50 years of Baath Party rule in Syria. During Assad’s two dozen years as president, the government had a well-documented history of arbitrary arrests, torture, enforced disappearance and the use of chemical weapons against his own people.

“After over five decades of brutality and repression, the people of Syria may finally have an opportunity to live free of fear with their rights respected,” said Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International.

“This historic opportunity must be now seized and decades of grave human rights violations redressed.”

Similarly, Lama Fakih, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, called the regime change in Syria “an unprecedented opportunity to chart a new future built on justice, accountability and respect for human rights.”

Questions about fate of religious minorities

An analysis by International Christian Concern likewise noted Assad and his administration treated the people of Syria brutally and systematically stripped them of basic rights and freedoms.

However, ICC raised questions about how religious minorities will be treated in a government heavily influenced by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist nationalist group.

The United States has recognized Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and its predecessor organization, Jabhat al-Nusra as foreign terrorist organizations, and it offered a $10 million bounty for al-Jolani.

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham originally was an affiliate of al-Qaida but later severed ties with the group. Al-Jolani spent eight years as an ISIS fighter in Iraq.

Encouraging signs in recent days include orders to protect religious minorities and the willingness of rebel fighters to allow continued Christmas observances.

“The initially positive signs in Aleppo do not, however, suggest that Syria is entering a new period of interfaith tolerance or widespread religious freedom,” the ICC analysis states. “Reports from the capture of Damascus include incidents of rebels inquiring into the religious identity of residents, suggesting that religion may continue to act as a point of tension.”

Al-Jolani has “much deeper roots as a persecutor of religion than a promoter of its free practice,” the ICC report states.

“Should al-Jolani continue to signal support for the rights of Christians and others, that would be a fundamental shift for the better. But that outcome is far from guaranteed, and a reversion to his old ways under ISIS and al-Qaida would be disastrous for these already vulnerable communities that suffered so much under Assad,” the report concludes.

Prayers for ‘stability and security of all Syrians’

Wissam al-Saliby, president of 21Wilberforce, offered prayer “for the stability and security of all Syrians, and for a transition to the rule of law where all citizens are treated equally before the law.”

“We’ve seen in other contexts in the Middle East that political transitions are risky and can lead to violence,” he wrote in an email to the Baptist Standard.

Up to this point, “traditional Christian communities in Syria” have enjoyed the freedom to worship, al-Saliby observed.

“The secular government treated them on equal footing with Muslims. Will this continue under the new rulers of Damascus?” he asked.

“Indicators to watch for include the safety and protection of Christians, the freedom for Christians to practice their rites, the right to a personal status law, and the right to manage their endowments, educational, medical and social institutions.”

During the period of political transition, as the new government takes shape, it also is important to see the degree to which Christians and other religious minorities are included, he added.

Muslim converts to Christianity present “a much more delicate” issue, al-Saliby wrote.

“Many Middle Eastern countries recognize the historic Christian communities but deny non-Christian citizens the right to espouse the Christian faith,” he stated.

“Since the start of the Syrian civil war, tens of thousands of Syrians, in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Syria, have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior in an unpreceded movement of the Spirit. Some church planting in Syria is now led by these Christians. How will the new rulers of Damascus accommodate for this group? Will they have to go underground?”

How will other nations respond?

Another unanswered question is how other nations will respond to the political changes in Syria. To date, Christians in Syria have been outspoken in criticizing American and European sanctions, al-Saliby noted.

“The impact of sanctions contributed to many Christians leaving the country in search of better economic conditions. Now that the regime has changed, will Western governments remove sanctions that have hindered the economy and reconstruction of Syria?” he asked.

Refugees International reports more than 6 million Syrians are refugees and at least 7 million are internally displaced.

“Mass refugee repatriation will be a slow and delicate process, contingent on factors including restoration of legitimate and effective governance, security conditions, an effective recovery and reconstruction effort, resolving complex housing and property rights disputes, and substantial humanitarian investments,” Etant Dupain, spokesperson for Refugees International, wrote in a Dec. 17 email.

“None of this will materialize quickly, and refugee-hosting governments should expect repatriation to proceed gradually as sustainable conditions for safe return begin to emerge within Syria. Moves by some European governments to halt asylum processing for Syrians are ill-advised and should be reversed until political and security conditions stabilize.”

Continuing humanitarian crisis

In the meantime, Dupain added, “Syria remains in the grips of a major humanitarian crisis.”

“All of the humanitarian needs that existed just three weeks ago are still present in post-Assad Syria. What has changed now is that humanitarians have the access to begin addressing these needs, albeit for an unknown window of time,” Dupain wrote.

“In that window, it is critical that the humanitarian response rapidly scales to surge in aid and capitalize on the current window of opportunity.”

Elijah Brown, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, noted his organization heard “from multiple sources a sense of cautious optimism that real and lasting positive change may be on hand” in Syria.

“There are initial indications that religious freedom for all people will be respected, even as we have also received requests to pray for protection, preservation and provision,” Brown said.

“The BWA joins in prayer for the reunification of families separated as refugees, for the strengthening of religious freedom for all people, and that in this Advent season, that the message the angels proclaimed at Jesus’ birth will once again resound, ‘and on earth peace.’”

A life on mission must begin somewhere. For several University of Mary Hardin-Baylor students, it began this December with Texans on Mission in North Carolina.

“For a few years, I’ve wanted to go on a mission trip,” sophomore Dani Rye said. “When I saw the global outreach stuff at UMHB, this looked like an awesome opportunity. I wanted to go and serve people. It seemed like a good experience to get out of your comfort zone and help people who need it.”

Rye was one of several UMHB students who took their first mission trip this December. They served disaster survivors in North Carolina, which has been hit hard in recent years by flooding and most recently Hurricane Helene.

A few months ago, a group of UMHB students signed up to go on a mission trip through the school’s Global Outreach program. They learned later in the semester where they would go after an interview process and prayer.

Working through Texans on Mission, the team of eight built wheelchair ramps, stuffed backpacks for students and prepared food boxes for those in need. Winter weather made the service crucial. Temperatures hovered in the low 20s as the students ministered.

“These students are some of the hardest working individuals I have had the pleasure of working alongside,” said Sabrina Pinales, director of missions and discipleship with Texans on Mission.

“Despite freezing temperatures, they completed several outdoor projects and blessed multiple families. The impact they have made will bless families for years to come.”

Something as simple as a wheelchair ramp is life-changing, said Jonah Sizemore, UMHB’s resident director who led the team.

“It’s their way in and out of the home. If they don’t have it, they can’t leave. They have to have people carry them out. This helps them live their life better.”

Efforts like this help students see the impact they can have if they live out their faith, Sizemore said. Small and large acts of service transform lives and give people the opportunity to share their faith. Mission work takes a variety of forms.

“This is a good starting point for kids who want to get into missions but have never been on a trip before,” he said. “This takes pressure off them. It’s a good starting point for them to see the physical work we can do.”

“Missions aren’t necessarily going to third world countries to share the gospel with people who haven’t heard it,” Sizemore continued. “It’s working here with people who need help. That can be missions for us.”

The experience made Rye want to look for more ways she could live on mission.

“On the way back from the airport, I thought this was really such a great experience,” she said. “I’ve already applied for the spring break and the summer trips. I have an interview next week!”

The mission service in North Carolina, it appears, is just a start.

PLATEAU, Nigeria (BP)—Christians in Nigeria plan to celebrate Christmas amid fear of a repeat of violence that claimed at least 160 lives in Nigeria’s Middle Belt at Christmastime in 2023 and dozens in northern Nigeria during the holidays in 2022, international religious liberty advocates reported.

After unsubstantiated warnings were dismissed and led to bloodshed last year, residents are alarmed by warnings in Plateau and Benue states, Open Doors said Dec. 16.

“This year again, there are stories going around that there will be a repeat of last year,” Open Doors quoted a source in Plateau State, but did not give a name. “People are scared. What happened to Christians was painful. It caused a lot of heartbreak and distrust in our communities.”

Samuel, a Christian from the northern state of Kaduna that borders the Middle Belt, told International Christian Concern he suspects many churches will use security forces during Christmas services. Dozens of Christians were murdered in his hometown at Christmas of 2022.

“Threats are reported to the authorities, but some people don’t trust the security agencies and feel the need to defend themselves instead,” ICC quoted Samuel, using an alias to protect the identity of the Christian enrolled in college in the United Kingdom.

“Some security agents are corrupt and either allow the attacks to happen or even help the attackers. On top of that, many Christians in the North believe that some politicians sponsor these attacks for religious or political reasons.”

In 2023, suspected Fulani militants attacked 26 Christian villages in Plateau state Dec. 23-25, killing at least 160 in a coordinated, military-style assault, it was widely reported, lamented and decried.

Some reports, including one from the Catholic News Agency, put the death toll at 198, based on information from local news sources and human rights activists. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

At least 5,000 Christians were displaced, eight churches were burned and two clerics were among those killed, including a Baptist pastor and nine members of his family, Christianity Today reported.

Christmas has long been dangerous for Christians in Nigeria, despite their sizable share of the population at 46 percent.

On Christmas Day in 2012, Boko Haram bombed churches in five cities in northern Nigeria, killing dozens and injuring others. Boko Haram led the way in trying to establish a caliphate across northern Nigeria, progressing for more than a decade before being pushed back during the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

The group remains active in the north with jihadist offshoots, while militant Fulani whom others identified as bandits have surged in the Middle Belt, according to religious liberty advocates.

Nigeria remains the deadliest country for Christians, with more than 50,000 killed between 2009 and 2023. Of the 4,998 Christians killed for their faith in 2023, more than 80 percent of them were in Nigeria, Open Doors reported in its 2024 World Watch List of the 50 most dangerous places for Christians.

Surviving Christians remain resilient and hopeful despite the widespread death and displacement, Open Doors reported, telling of a congregation that returned to the ruins of its bombed church building to worship at Thanksgiving.

In Mangu, the capital city of Nigeria’s Plateau State, 280 worshipers gathered at what remains of their church to worship after a September 2023 attack blamed on Fulani militants killed and displaced many in the community, Open Doors said.

“Satan, you can’t make me compromise my faith,” Open Doors said the worshipers sang in their local Mwaghavul dialect. “One day God will deliver us as he did the Israelites.”

Preaching from John 16:33, the pastor encouraged congregations to “be hopeful, courageous and resilient,” Open Doors said, reminding them, “In this world, they will keep facing persecution and tribulation, but be of good cheer, God has overcome the world.”