Walton apparently was rescued quickly, thanks to CIA intelligence and collaboration from Nigeria and Niger, partly out of fear that his kidnappers could sell him to Islamist militants common in Niger and northern Nigeria. Christian aid worker Jeffery Rey Woodke has been captive four years since kidnapped also in Niger. Italian Catholic priest Father Pier Luigi Maccalli was released recently after two years in captivity by Islamic jihadists who kidnapped him in Niger and held him in neighboring Mali, whose government negotiated his liberation in a prisoner exchange.

American missionary Philip Walton was rescued Saturday in Nigeria by the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team 6, who killed six of Walton’s seven captors. None of the rescuing commandos were harmed. Walton, age 27, was kidnapped from his farm in neighboring Niger on Monday. His family, which included wife, young daughter and brother, was left behind bound and gagged.

Walton had been working as a missionary in that region for a year. The kidnappers’ motivation apparently was financial and not political. They demanded ransom from Walton’s father, a missionary in Niger for many years.

Was this dramatic rescue by USA armed forces morally justified from a Christian theological perspective? Possibly many Christian thinkers would say no, at least if they are consistent in their stance against “violence” and “empire.”

Walton apparently was rescued quickly, thanks to CIA intelligence and collaboration from Nigeria and Niger, partly out of fear that his kidnappers could sell him to Islamist militants common in Niger and northern Nigeria. Christian aid worker Jeffery Rey Woodke has been captive four years since kidnapped also in Niger. Italian Catholic priest Father Pier Luigi Maccalli was released recently after two years in captivity by Islamic jihadists who kidnapped him in Niger and held him in neighboring Mali, whose government negotiated his liberation in a prisoner exchange. Some governments have paid ransoms for their kidnapped nationals, which the U.S. has criticized.

Of course, Walton was rescued not because he was a Christian missionary but because he is an American entitled to protection from his government. Not all Americans kidnapped overseas receive expeditious liberation by SEAL Team Six. But evidently there was an unusual and fortunate confluence of circumstances, opportunity, information and resources making this rescue possible. There was also as motivation the deterrence effect on future kidnappers tempted to procure Americans as hostages for reasons pecuniary or political.

Ideally, Nigeria’s police or armed forces would’ve rescued Walton. But the Nigerian government sadly is unable to protect even its own citizens from routine raids by Islamist insurgents and other renegades in its northern mostly Muslim regions. The U.S. acted because local authorities evidently could not, although Nigeria reportedly was supportive.

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