Religious war

The pundit class in America is doing what it does best, rehashing and re-examining every nuance and implication of the most recent political misstep — in this case, ill-advised comments about birth control made by a contributor to presidential hopeful Rick Santorum's campaign.

Ironically, this recent fixation on a metaphorical religious war at home is getting significantly more attention in the U.S. media than a literal religious war that may be brewing in Nigeria. Since the tragic Christmas Day bombings of churches in that country by Muslim extremists, at least 67 people have been killed in clashes, with incidents almost daily.

Boko Haram, a homegrown extremist group systematically targeting Christians, is behind most of the violence. The group is known to have ties to al-Qaida, the Taliban and al-Shabab in Somalia. Yet while religion is clearly a rallying point for Boko Haram, it's important to recognize that the factors behind its rise are, in many respects, economic.

In Nigeria, economic, religious and ethnic boundaries coincide. Historical patterns of settlement and religious conversion resulted in Christians populating the south of the country, where they capitalized on rich oil resources, while Muslims in the north enjoy significantly less prosperity.

A 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center found that more than 80 percent of Nigerians rated unemployment, crime and corruption as very big problems in their country, while 58 percent said the same about religious conflict. There is an undeniable class element to current conflicts, and experts say some Muslims think Boko Haram could perhaps finally spur the government to action on issues like poverty and corruption.

But whether or not religion is truly at the root of the conflict, it is now firmly at the heart of it. Christians in Muslim areas are pulling their children out of school, fleeing to the south or to neighboring countries, and they are increasingly targeted for no reason other than their religious affiliation. It is religious terrorism at its worst. The Nigerian government has taken pains not to characterize the conflict in Christian-Muslim terms, yet in the minds of its people it is exactly that.

In spite of this, most Christians and Muslims view one another positively and believe that the extremists are few, according to the Pew Research Center survey. Many Muslim leaders have condemned Boko Haram, and opportunities to unite across religious lines in response to recent killings must be leveraged.