Really? Let's see, they believe in Mohammed and Allah, read the Quran, and are trying to establish an uber-strict form of Sharia law in Nigeria. Doesn't sound like Hinduism to me. Or Buddhism. Or Judaism or Christianity. Hello, Ambassador Jackson, if it quacks like a duck. Oh, and Al-Shabaab, and the Taliban and al-Qaeda all believe the same thing. They're all Muslims because they consider themselves to be, and because they follow the tenets of that religion. It would be like claiming the Westboro Baptists aren't Christians. They might not be what we expect of Christians, they're almost as evil a bunch as Boko Haram, but they believe in Christ, so they are.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio took on Jackson during the hearing.
“Is the prime motivator here of this instance, in your opinion — is the prime motivator the desire to deny young women access to education and empowerment?” Rubio asked.
“Senator, I actually think the prime motivator is to raise more funds for Boko Haram through ransom,” Jackson replied. “However, the fact that Boko Haram opposes Western education is certainly a reason why these girls were targeted.”
“Can I suggest that I think there’s another motivation that’s not getting nearly enough attention, and that is that this is clearly motivated by an anti-Christian attitude of this group,” Rubio continued, citing “a grotesque statement” from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau: “It is either you are with jahideen, or you’re with the Christians. We know what is happening in this world. It is a jihad war against Christians and Christianity. It is a war against Western education, democracy and constitution… This is what I know in Quran. This is a war against Christians and democracy and their constitution. Allah says we should finish them when we get them.”
“I don’t think there’s any doubt about what’s motivating them,” Rubio said. “One of their leading motivators here is this is not simply — and there’s no doubt that this is a part of it, but this is not just about girls going to school and it’s not just about raising money. There is a strong anti-Christian element of this organization and of this activity. Am I right in saying that?”
“Senator, there is a strong anti-Christian element, but I would offer that more of the thousands of people who have died as a result of Boko Haram’s activities are Muslim than Christian,” Jackson said.
Rubio stressed “we should not ignore the fact that there is a religious persecution aspect of this that is very significant and deserves attention, especially in light of what we are seeing not just in this part of the world but multiple areas of the world, where we are seeing horrifying instances of religious persecution against Christians, which, in my opinion, has been underreported.”Rubio was referring to a video statement by Shekau that the schoolgirls had converted to Islam.
“Senator, I respectfully suggest while anti-Christian sentiment is a strong motivator, the fact of the matter is that Boko Haram is trying to portray its philosophy as being a Muslim philosophy, and that’s just not accurate,” Jackson said.
“I’m not claiming that this is somehow driven by legitimate teachings of Islam. What I’m arguing is that there is a strong anti-Christian element to this and that it is part of a broader anti-Christian persecution that we are seeing repeatedly throughout the world. Would you disagree with that statement?” the senator asked.
“I do not disagree, but I continue to want to emphasize that Boko Haram terrorizes all people,” the State Department official responded.
Jackson said about 85 percent of the more than 200 teens taken from the Chibok secondary school are Christian. Nigeria’s population includes about about 60 million Protestants and 20 million Catholics, according to Pew.
Rubio stressed that a crime against Muslims “is no less worse or less bad than a crime against Christians.”
“What I’m trying to put aside — what I’m trying to put forward here is that we cannot continue to ignore that persecution of Christians is a leading motivator not just of what’s happening in Boko Haram but in other parts of the world, as well, but in this specific instance, they are clearly motivated by anti-Christian attitudes and anti-Christian beliefs,” he said. “And I don’t think that’s even debatable, given their very own statement.”
Source: PJ Media
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