After carnage in Nigeria, faith leaders seek unity but fear religious war
After Muslim militants bombed a Nigerian church over the Christmas weekend, northern Nigerian Christians say they will fight to defend themselves against a possible religious war in Africa's most populous country.
On Christmas Day, a suicide bomber tried to force his way into St. Theresa's Roman Catholic Church in Madella, on the edge of the capital, Abuja. He was stopped by police and detonated a bomb as parishioners poured out of the church after Christmas mass. Authorities said 39 people died and many more were injured.
In New York, the National Council of Churches condemned the bombing as "intrinsically evil." Incoming NCC president Kathryn Mary Lohre added that "we condemn any violent act so contrary to the common understanding of God's love as it is expressed among Christians, Muslims and persons of all the major faith traditions."
