I must have missed the reports on the protests and vigils outside the Sudanese embassy, after a pregnant Sudanese doctor was sentenced to death for the crime of apostasy.  Perhaps they were all busily protesting the Nigerian embassy, calling for greater protection of that nation’s Christians, following the Boko Haram kidnappings.  But I’m sure the tweeting by a stern-faced @MichelleObama will #bringbackourgirls in jig-time.  Mmmm-hmmm.

But what’s glaringly lacking in most of these reports is the, well, Christianity of the oppressed, kidnapped and murdered.  Indeed, in the sexism-obsessed West, one can’t help but think that kidnapped boys don’t merit a fraction of the attention and hand-wringing.  Much as we all hope for the safe return of every last one of these girls, this sudden rush to “do something!” about the Boko Haram kidnapping is worrying in its lack of focus on religious persecution.  Plainly, if you can’t see the real root of the problem, you cannot deal with the problem.

This is but another in a long and painful string of reports about the fate of the Middle East and North Africa’s Christians.  One wonders who in Ireland is aware that the percentage of Christians living in the Middle East has dropped from 25% in 1900 to 5% today.  Or about the fate of Christians in Syria, the Palestinian territories, Iraq, Iran or Egypt.

What’s the solution? 

First, how about our own religious leaders actually lead?  With the admirable exceptions of the likes of Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, most Christian leaders have been sadly lacking in their response to the persecution and murder of the Developing World’s Christians.  At a local level, how about the utterly peaceful act of every Church posting signs demanding the safety and protection of the Middle East’s Christians?

Finally, aid must be leveraged.  We should emulate the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment to US federal law under President Ford, which tied trade with then-communist bloc countries with improved human rights and emigration freedoms.  All without one bullet fired.

Is that too much to ask of The Dail, Irish Aid… and Michelle Obama?