The Gospel Coalition

The Cove won an Oscar last night for best documentary. The film, no doubt worthy of the award, documents the calculated massacre of dolphins in a small seaside town in Japan. Here’s the trailer:

It seems good and right that the filmmakers and activists behind The Cove are bringing awareness of this senseless tragedy to the world. But I’m concerned about an even more alarming massacre reported over the weekend in The New York Times. According to the story, hundreds of Christians in Nigeria — most of which were women and children — were brutally slaughtered with machetes by militant Muslims. From the story:

Many appeared to have been cut down with machetes after being driven from homes set ablaze by attackers in the predawn darkness, said Shamaki Gad Peter of the League for Human Rights, a Nigerian group.

Mr. Yenlong said the attackers were “hoodlums, Fulani herdsmen” — Muslims from a neighboring state, Bauchi, who were going after Christian members of Plateau’s leading ethnic group, the Berom, in the villages of Ratt and Dogona Hauwa.

“They attacked those villages and killed well over 300 people, mostly women, children and the aged,” Mr. Yenlong said. “They killed them unprovoked. Innocent people were massacred.”

Witnesses, including Mr. Peter, spoke of bodies littering the streets of Ratt. One victim was less than 3 months old, he said.

“I’m seeing more than 20 corpses right now, women and children who have been killed,” said Mr. Peter. “Virtually every house has been burned down. Corpses of people are littered about. They were slaughtered with machetes. I can see the cuts on their head and neck.”

Let’s continue to raise awareness about the senseless slaughter of Christians in “coves” throughout the world. Christian filmmakers: there’s plenty of stories to be told.

Mike Pohlman (Ph.D. Candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is an editor with The Gospel Coalition and senior pastor of Immanuel Bible Church in Bellingham, WA.