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My comment from the original web site...

Neither the Catholic nor Orthodox Christian tradition demands pacifism. We are not Quakers. There has always been a clear right to self defense. Self defense may be exercised by both individuals and society as a whole when threatened by unlawful violence. However, care must be taken not to confuse a justifiable exercise of force in self defense with simple revenge. The Government of Nigeria must be told in no uncertain terms to deal with the issue and protect religious minorities in the Moslem part of the country or the Christian part will be within their rights to take such measures as may be reasonably necessary to protect themselves from further aggression. If the government is unable or unwilling to maintain order in a religiously pluralistic society then Christians should consider the possibility of secession. They could form their own country and place strict limits on Moslem immigration into their “new” country.

This is not politically correct advice. But I think it’s time to start being blunt. One of the major problems is the unwillingness of liberal enlightened people in the west to recognize danger when it is approaching. I think Islamic immigration should be banned in Europe for at least ten years. Our own immigration laws are so restrictive already that it is not a major issue here. But in Europe and many other culturally Christian parts of the world there is a serious danger that they are going to be overwhelmed in an Islamic tidal wave. And their total inability to see Islam as something other than a benign religion is very frightening.

It reminds me of a story I once heard. There was an old man who walked into an Irish bar and ordered a drink. The bartender started to converse with the customer and the topic came up of ancestry. The old man said he was Jewish and his family had been wiped out by the Nazis. The Irish bartender sighed in sympathy and asked why the man’s family did not flee when the Nazis took over. The old man said they were an educated and cultured people. They could no believe anyone was capable of such evil. The bartender said his family knew that the Jews were going to be massacred almost as soon as Hitler took office. “How is that?” asked the old man in disbelief. He replied “Because Hitler said he would do it. And while my family was not educated or cultured, no Irishman has ever underestimated man’s capacity for evil. We know better from experience.”

Yes I am Irish, and I have nothing but very bad feelings about this.

This is a terrible situation, but one with which I think we Christians are going to become increasingly familiar in many other parts of the world. It's certainly good to have our response thought out in advance.

I think your points are absolutely right on target: Christians have a right to defend themselves and are not all called to be martyrs, but at the same time, this should stop simply with defense and not go into vengeance.

We are seeing a total failure of a government to protect its citizens, which is one of the universally acknowledged duties of a government. Granted, the government of Nigeria might be a little shaky in general, as governments go, but to some extent, I think we saw the French government take the same hands-off attitude when the Muslims were roiting over....what was it now? (Oh yes, two Muslim teenagers who had gotten electrocuted hiding in a power station ... makes sense to riot, no?) Granted, they weren't attacking Christians in particular at that moment, but they will be in the future. I think this means that Christians not only have to be prepared to defend themselves, but that they have to start demanding protection from their governments now. This means that we have to demand that civil society do its part, and not let the situation get to violence and vigilantism in the first place.

Sadly, a lot of existing governments are either on the side of the Muslims, or too scared of them to do anything to restrain them.