Trump, the Hill, and the Christian Persecution Industrial Complex
When Donald Trump, or outlets like the Hill, sound the alarm about 'Christian persecution' to justify military threats in Nigeria, one might wonder why this particular brand of religious anxiety becomes front-page news. It's almost as if the suffering of certain religious groups gets a fast-track to US military consideration, while others, say, in Gaza, are tragically overlooked—or worse, actively
participated in. This isn't about genuine concern; it's about manufacturing consent for geopolitical maneuverings, wrapped in a convenient moral blanket. Trump's 2020 executive order further solidified this 'religious freedom' foreign policy, making it easier to selectively intervene where US interests, not necessarily Christian lives, are best served. The irony here is palpable: the same
politicians and media who champion 'religious freedom' abroad often remain silent on domestic issues of separation of church and state, or even actively participate in the erosion of religious protections for non-Christian faiths. This selective outrage isn't just hypocritical; it's a dangerous precedent that allows the powerful to pick and choose whose suffering matters, creating convenient
pretexts for intervention while ignoring the complexities on the ground. How many 'religious freedom' crusades actually lead to freedom, and how many just lead to more war profits?