As barricades and parade bleachers have gone up in Washington, D.C., so have the nation’s expectations for the incoming Trump administration to right what many see as the wrongs of the outgoing Biden administration — whether it’s the crisis at the southern border, transgender ideology targeting our youth, or the weaponization of government against its citizens.
That latter concern dominated the confirmation hearing last week for President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for attorney general, Pam Bondi.
On Wednesday, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley (R) honed in on the Biden Justice Department’s “unprecedented attack and campaign against people of faith.” Hawley asked Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, whether she would reverse course on a weaponization that has trampled Americans’ rights, leaving them to fear their own government. Bondi committed to ending that hostility toward Christians.
Her pledge carries global importance. Over the last four years, our government’s oppression of Christians at home, along with failed foreign policies, have had deadly repercussions abroad. Two recent reports by organizations tracking religious persecution indicate a sharp rise in global violence against Christians. According to Open Doors International, 380 million Christians faced persecution and discrimination in 2024 — 15 million more than in 2023.
Another study from Global Christian Relief names Nigeria as the most dangerous country for Christians, with nearly 10,000 killed last year.
How does government hostility, combined with bad policy, translate to persecution overseas? Very simply. When our democratic government targets Christians here, repressive regimes — communist or Islamist — are emboldened to persecute believers even more aggressively.
Take Nigeria, for instance. In the final year of the previous Trump administration, I served as chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which tracks violations of religious freedom and advises our government. In 2020, after two decades of USCIRF recommending Nigeria be listed as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did just that, listing the Muslim-led country as a CPC for the first time. That label, under international religious freedom law, can lead to sanctions and other penalties by the United States. However, one of the first actions of the incoming Biden administration was to remove Nigeria from CPC status.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s justification was that it was not a religious freedom issue; rather, it was a climate change issue, and therefore, the designation was unnecessary.
The outcome of that policy change? The body count of Christian men, women, and children has steadily climbed, making Nigeria the world’s most perilous place to be a Christian.
Here’s the reality: the United States will lead, whether we like it or not, through the example we set. Protecting religious freedom at home, as our Constitution guarantees, indirectly benefits believers around the globe. Yet persecution has spread rapidly because of the Left’s policies and practices of hostility. The Trump administration and the new Congress must now tackle persecution and discrimination by not only safeguarding religious freedom here in America but also prioritizing it in our foreign policy.
The Left has been intentional in spreading its hostility toward the Christian faith. It’s time for America to be equally intentional in protecting and promoting this fundamental human right.
