Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced a bill in Congress designed to protect persecuted Christians in Nigeria, whose plight has become more mainstream in recent weeks. In addition to Cruz introducing legislation, Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) spoke about the issue on Bill Maher’s HBO show, where the host launched into a diatribe against selective leftist outrage vis-a-vis religious persecution.
For context, and while there seems to be no definitive answer on the extent of persecution facing Christians in Nigeria, Cruz and others have highlighted a brewing genocide against minority populations in majority-Muslim nation. Claims of tens of thousands of burned churches and upwards of 50,000 deaths at the hands of radical jihadists propelled the Texas Senator to introduce his bill.
In a press release from the Senator’s website, an overview of the Nigeria Religious Freedom Accountability Act of 2025 was shared. The purpose of the bill was to protect “Christians and other religious minorities being persecuted in Nigeria by holding accountable Nigerian officials who facilitate Islamist jihadist violence and the imposition of blasphemy laws.”
Going further, the bill specifically outlined four major actions should it pass. “Impose targeted sanctions against Nigerian officials who facilitate violence against Christians and other religious minorities, including by Islamist terrorist groups. Impose targeted sanctions against Nigerian officials who enforce sharia and blasphemy laws. Require the Secretary of State to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern. Require the Secretary of State to ensure that Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa remain designated as Entities of Particular Concern.”
At the same time, Cruz took to the social media platform X to highlight the urgent need of help for Christian population in the African nation. “Since 2009, over 50,000 Christians in Nigeria have been massacred, and over 18,000 churches and 2,000 Christian schools have been destroyed,” Cruz stated.
He continued, saying: “It is the result of decisions made by specific people, in specific places, at specific times—and it says a great deal about who is lashing out now that a light is being shone on these issues. The United States knows who those people are, and I intend to hold them accountable.”
As these atrocities gain more attention, even liberal voices such as HBO’s Bill Maher noted that everyone talks about the Muslim Palestinians but hardly anyone even knows what’s been happening to Christians, even when their plight is arguably worse on scale.
The Christian Tribune previously reported on Maher’s exchange with Rep. Mace. “Indeed, for all of the focus on the mistreatment of Muslim Palestinians in the Middle East, the widespread and seemingly globally-sanctioned persecution and treatment of Christians in that region and others goes entirely unreported. Nigeria specifically is divided almost in half in terms of its estimated 100 million citizens, with about half each identifying as either Muslim or Christian,” the Tribune wrote.
“It’s pretty amazing. If you don’t know what’s going on in Nigeria, your media sources suck. You are in a bubble. And again, I’m not a Christian, but they are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria. They’ve killed over 100,000 since 2009 they burned 18,000 churches. This is so much more. These are their Islamists, Boko Haram,” Maher stated.
He went on, saying that entire communities are being wiped out and that the numbers alone make this far worse than anything happening in Gaza. “This is so much more of a genocide attempt than what is going on in Gaza. They are literally attempting to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country. Where are the kids protesting this?”
Watch Maher explode on leftists below: