Bill Maher, an American comedian, political commentator, and television host known for his sharp, often controversial critiques of religion, politics, and culture, used his HBO talk show Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday (Sept. 26) to spotlight ongoing violence against Christians in Nigeria.
Maher has hosted the long-running show since 2003, featuring unscripted debates with guests from across the political spectrum. During a panel discussion, U.S. Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, thanked Maher for raising the issue and said the media has failed to cover the tragedy.
“Nigeria, the fact that this issue has not gotten on people’s radar, it’s pretty amazing,” Maher said. “If you don’t know what’s going on in Nigeria, your media sources suck. You are in a bubble.”
“I’m not a Christian, but they are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria. They’ve killed over a hundred thousand since 2009. They’ve burned 18,000 churches. These are the Islamists, Boko Haram,” he said. “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?” he asked, criticizing the lack of mainstream media coverage and noting the absence of public outcry in the United States.
Measure of anti-Christian violence in the country is already at the maximum possible, persecution watchdog says
Nigeria remained among the most dangerous places on earth for Christians, according to Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. Of the 4,476 Christians killed for their faith worldwide during the reporting period, 3,100 (69 percent) were in Nigeria, according to the WWL.
“The measure of anti-Christian violence in the country is already at the maximum possible under World Watch List methodology,” the report stated.
In the country’s North-Central zone, where Christians are more common than they are in the North-East and North-West, Islamic extremist Fulani militia attack farming communities, killing many hundreds, Christians above all, according to the report.
Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and the splinter group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), among others, are also active in the country’s northern states, where federal government control is scant and Christians and their communities continue to be the targets of raids, sexual violence, and roadblock killings, according to the report. Abductions for ransom have increased considerably in recent years.
The violence has spread to southern states, and a new jihadist terror group, Lakurawa, has emerged in the northwest, armed with advanced weaponry and a radical Islamist agenda, the WWL noted. Lakurawa is affiliated with the expansionist Al-Qaeda insurgency Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, or JNIM, originating in Mali.
Nigeria ranked seventh on the 2025 WWL list of the 50 worst countries for Christians.
