Posted on 12/22/2025 6:35:34 PM PST by ebb tide
In an era where professional athletes have too often succumbed to amplifying woke ideology and promoting leftist causes, it is refreshing to see NFL players channel their religious beliefs and courageously stand up for initiatives that make a difference for Christ.
Earlier this week 60 high-profile current and former NFL players and coaches co-signed a letter calling on leaders in Washington, D.C. – including President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson – demanding urgent U.S. intervention in Nigeria, where Christians have been targeted by radical Islamists.
The letter highlights the humanitarian crisis taking place in the country as thousands of kidnappings and murders of Christians have been increasing, most especially in recent months when school children were taken from a Catholic school in Papiri. The statement stands as a bold testament to the athletes’ willingness to use their platform to defend innocent life.
Former NFL tight end Benjamin Watson and Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy have added their names to the letter. Both have fearlessly defended the sanctity of life off of the playing field.
Watson is a Super Bowl champion who has spoken at the March for Life on multiple occasions, including addresses in 2017, 2021, and 2024. In 2018, he donated an ultrasound machine to Maryland’s Severna Park Pregnancy Clinic. In 2020, he released a pro-life documentary with film maker Jason Jones titled “Divided Hearts of America.” Watson’s involvement in the Nigeria letter only amplifies his already outstanding legacy.
Joining Watson is Dungy, a Hall of Fame head coach and former player who became the NFL’s first Black coach to win a Super Bowl. Dungy routinely shares Bible verses on social media and has never missed an opportunity to engage in activism for innocent life. During her campaign for president, Vice President Kamala Harris claimed that Christians’ needn’t abandon their faith to support abortion. Dungy shot back on X by saying: “Exactly what ‘faith’ are you talking about when you say you don’t have to abandon it to support abortion?” He then pointed to Genesis 1:26, Jeremiah 1:5, and Luke 18:20 to debunk Harris’ absurd claim that being a follower of Christ is compatible with killing preborn babies.
Watson and Dungy aren’t alone in calling on leaders to take action in Nigeria. The letter boasts signatures from Steve Stenstrom (president of Sports Spectrum), Kirk Cousins of the Atlanta Falcons, Jameis Winston of the New York Giants, Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers, C.J. Stroud of the Houston Texans, and TreVeyon Henderson of the New England Patriots.
The players don’t mince words in their statement. Among other things, they call upon the U.S. government to partner with Nigerian officials to disrupt ethnic Fulani militias attacking citizens. They also urge U.S. military aid to be given only if “clear, measurable benchmarks” like the protection of villages and houses of worship are met. Moreover, they seek expanded humanitarian aid as well as sanctions and stricter oversight of the country’s religious freedom violations.
“Despite years of escalating attacks, the Nigerian Army and security services have been ineffective,” the letter rightly notes. “The NFL is also full of many players who come from Nigerian families. This wonderful country is a strategically important democracy and a nation of extraordinary beauty, rich culture, and resilient people. Yet for years, Nigerians of all faiths have endured relentless attacks, kidnappings, and killings by extremist groups and criminal networks exploiting ethnic and religious divides.”
The letter comes as international pressure on Nigerian leadership continues to grow. Last month, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz described what is taking place as “genocide wearing the mask of chaos.” President Trump meanwhile has threatened to “wipe out” Islamic terrorists in the country. Even unexpected voices like atheist comedian Bill Maher decried the slaughter on his HBO show, noting that it is “so much more of a genocide attempt than what is going on in Gaza.”
A 2025 Global Christian Relief (GCR) Red List report confirms these grim assessments. The group found that Nigeria is the most dangerous place for Christians in the world. To that point, from 2009 to 2022, over 50,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria, per an Open Doors study. A separate report found that more than 8,000 Nigerian Christians were killed and thousands more were abducted in 2023, making it the bloodiest year on record for Islamic attacks against Christians in the country.
Findings published by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) highlight many of the state-sponsored attacks on Christians in Nigeria. In its 2025 study, the USCIRF urged the U.S. government to designate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern.” It also noted that “the Nigerian government remains slow or, at times, appears unwilling to respond to this violence, creating an environment of impunity for the attackers.”
Benjamin Watson, Tony Dungy, and the rest of the signatories of this letter deserve praise. By standing up for the defenseless Christians in Nigeria, they show themselves to be courageous voices in a world where too many professional athletes cower in fear of the liberal media and woke interest groups. Now the focus turns to Washington, which desperately needs to listen to their letter by implementing their demands to restore accountability and ensure protection for Christians in Nigeria.
These sports figures are more courageous, and honest, than the Vatican's current Secretary of State, who has already sold-out the faithful Catholics in Red China:
Ping
Good for them.
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) reported in the first eight months of 2025 over 7,000 Christians were killed in Nigeria, averaging more than 30 deaths per day.
For the 12-month period ending in September 2024, the aid group Open Doors counted 3,100 Christians killed in Nigeria for their faith.
And various news and advocacy groups, have claimed over 100,000 to over 185,000 Christians killed since 2009.
Send the players to Nigeria to fix the problem.
Playing football must be too easy for them as they have so much free time.
Nigeria is on a tight-rope. It’s approx. evenly divided among the Muslim North and the Christian South. Sharia law is in force in the NW of the country and Boko Haram is active in the borderlands between this area and the Christian south
Unfortunately, in this case, moral suasion simply will not work to protect Christians in the northern areas, but at the same time, foreign intervention may simply trigger a wider war, and the Government is seemingly inept/powerless to protect Christians in this area.
Shut up! It is more than the football players asking for our government’s help against the slaughter. It is horrible.
Good, and good for Nicki Manaj too. Love Tony Dungy, he reminds me of my father, who was a saint!
The Nigerian government is corrupt.
Nigeria. Half Christian, half Muz in a nation with the highest population density in Africa. Recipe for complete disaster. Very difficult to know how to proceed.
Heck, we need to protect old ladies in Seattle from psychotic rat filth drag queens.
I had a long discussion with a Nigerian family for Thanksgiving. The Nigerian government is complicit with the jihadis rampaging through the county. They act nice with our reps when they come to town, and revert when the guests leave.
It would be nice to carve out a safe zone in Africa for Christians and let them thrive. In the Middle East it used to be Lebanon.
So you’re OK with your fellow Christians being murdered. We all pray to the same God.
You do know how the military works? You don’t join the military and go fight your own little war. Christians not caring about Christians. Now I’ve heard it all.
My heart says “do something!”
My head says “What’s the plan?”
Gotta keep in mind, Nigeria is a fairly large country, with a population of ~237 million people. The demographics are remarkable - I’m guessing they pay for their food imports with, essentially, oil money.
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