The Rt. Rev. Julian Dobbs, Anglican Bishop of the Church of Nigeria [based in McLean, Virginia] returned Thursday from a visit to Nigeria's capital, Abuja where he discussed the violence with church leaders.

Bishop Dobbs said, "The continuing violence perpetrated against Christians in Nigeria is indefensible. It is time for the Nigerian government and global community to utilize all resources available to stop attacks initiated by Boko Haram."

The five men were amongst seven people arrested on 12 October 2012 during an evening raid by the security services on a house in Shiraz where a prayer service was underway. They were initially held in Plaque 100, the Intelligence Ministry's notorious detention centre, before being transferred to Adel-Abad Prison, where they were detained separately from other prisoners.

AINA said this was prompted by Salafists Muslims who instigated the villagers to attack the church because the church is "an unlawful neighbor to the Muslims who live adjacent to it and must therefore be moved".

AINA said they demanded the relocation of the church away from Muslim homes and are not allowing its priest, Pastor Domadios, to enter the church. All these events were witnessed by the security authorities who AINA said did nothing to stop the attack.

In some cases, the targets of their wrath have caved in to their demands.

* Last week, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester, Mass., canceled a talk on Islam by author Robert Spencer after local Muslim groups, egged on by Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, enlisted a sympathetic Boston Globe reporter to smear Spencer as a "bigot."

"We applaud the diocese's decision," CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper gloated.