A long-time Christian radio personality in New York City says in many cases the city has reverted to its post-9/11 spiritual climate, AgapePress reports. In the months immediately following the terrorist attacks in 2001, churches throughout the greater New York City area reported overflow crowds. Now, according to George Flores of WMCA 570 and 970 AM, many people in the area are indifferent to spiritual matters. "A lot of people are escaping. They don't want to contend with the fact that we are at war, they don't want to contend with the bad memory of the pain that they might have felt back on [September 11, 2001]," Flores shares. Flores, who has worked in Christian radio in the New York area for more than two decades, detects a complacency regarding Christianity. "There is a strong, strong spine to America," he says, "but still part of me thinks there's a lot of America that's attempting to just [think] 'maybe this will go away.'" But that is not realistic, he adds. "I don't see the same level of faith nor the same level of patriotism that I saw immediately after the attack."

Investigations are still ongoing for arson fires set by Muslim mobs last week in the northern Nigerian town of Dutse, ASSIST News Service reports. The rioting and fires damaged up to 70 structures, including churches, homes, and Christian businesses, said a Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) leader. The attacks came when already tense relations between Muslims and Christians in the capital of Jigawa were stressed further by comments made by Pope Benedict XVI during his Regensburg address earlier in the month. Benedict quoted criticism of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus. The Pope has since issued a statement to say that he had never meant to offend Islam. However, demonstrations and violence by some Muslims have been ongoing worldwide. Nigerian authorities believe the trouble in Dutse was started as the result of a Christian market trader insulting the Prophet Muhammad in the presence of a Muslim customer, according to a BBC news service report. However, the cause for the rioting and fires may be a combination of the two events.

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