Two weeks ago, mobs of Muslims in Niger engaged in a rampage that saw the destruction of roughly 70 churches in the country but a different story was told in a compound in the capital, Niamey.
According to Todd Starnes of FOX News, Neal Childs, a prominent Christian community leader in Niger, called him and told him the story of how a pastor's Muslim neighbours assisted him amid the violence of that weekend.
While the mobs were preoccupied with the destruction they inflicted on the front part of the house, Neal revealed, the pastor's Muslim neighbours rushed through the back door to save whatever property that they could spare.
"While the mob was burning the front of the house, his neighbours came in through the back and they hauled out clothes and everything they could get through the back window," Neal said.
"They helped to save the pastor's property while the crazy mob was burning everything," he added.
Neal also told Starnes another story in the aftermath of the violence.
"It was still smoking and warm with ashes," Neal said. "As we were looking through the rubble my wife came across the Bible." Neal then said that the Bible was charred by fire, but it was not totally destroyed.
Neal described it as an "emotional moment," especially when several churches were on fire around them.
Violence and vandalism erupted in Niger on January 16 and continued for several days. The Muslims in the country were enraged by the publication of a cartoon by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which depicted the Prophet Mohammad holding a sign saying "Je Suis Charlie."
"Je Suis Charlie" was a message of solidarity used worldwide as a hash tag in the wake of the attacks on Charlie Hebdo's Paris office early January. The attack killed 12 people, and caused an uproar in the international community.
