The bishops of Nigeria blame government inaction for the death of more than 2,000 people during a recent uprising by an extremist Islamic group. “We have no democracy worth the name if government cannot protect life and property of the citizen,” the bishops said in a statement. The uprising began in late July after the arrest of some members of the Boko Haram sect, which opposes Western education and insists on the imposition of Shariah, or Islamic law. In their statement the bishops also criticized the “culture of violence that prevails in Nigeria” and condemned the Islamic group for using religion to justify its actions: “We wish to note that those who claim that they love God while hating their fellow human beings, even to the extent of killing them, are liars.”