What was Lost?

You may have heard the news, a couple of weeks ago there was a large “wave of religious violence” in Nigeria. “Around 1000 people were displaced, several critically wounded, and every church reportedly destroyed in Shira Yana, Bauchi State, Nigeria on 2 February 2008.” Christianity Today ran a news article titled Churches destroyed in wave of religious violence in Nigeria.

Apparently this was all started become a young Christian woman was accused of blaspheming Muhammad. A young man who was 20 died, the article does not say if he was a Christian or not. Here are the other reported losses in this article:

• On the following morning the youth attacked her house accompanied by a crowd
• triggering a rampage in which police and Christians were attacked and their homes and churches destroyed.
• Elsewhere, a Baptist church and a Deeper Life church were set ablaze
• A car owned by a local Christian that was parked close to the churches was also destroyed in the blaze.
• six Christian-owned houses had been razed to the ground

Although it is devastating to lose your buildings, cars, sense of security, etc. to senseless violence, I ask, “What was Lost?”