Episcopalians Approve Second Gay Bishop

The Episcopal Church has approved the election of its second openly gay bishop. The Diocese of Los Angeles granted that approval on Wednesday.

The church says Rev. Mary Glasspool will be consecrated May 15. However, some Episcopal conservatives say the move is "grieving the heart of God."

"I am ... aware that not everyone rejoices in this election and consent, and will work, pray and continue to extend my own hands and heart to bridge those gaps, and strengthen the bonds of affection among all people, in the name of Jesus Christ," Glasspool said in a released statement.

In an essay on the Los Angeles diocese Web site, Glasspool said that she had an "intense struggle" while in college with her sexuality and the call to become a priest.

One conservative Episcopalian expressed criticism of the church's approval of Glasspool as a bishop. In approving Glasspool, the Episcopal Church has "sought to embrace a way of life which the church through the Bible has always understood to be forbidden," said the Rev. Kendall Harmon of the traditional Diocese of South Carolina, which has voted to distance itself from the national church.

Nigerian Christians Cry Out for Help Amid Attacks

Nigerian Christians are asking their government to protect them as violence continues, while the U.S. and human rights activists call on the country to investigate recent deadly attacks on Christian villages.

Hundreds were killed in an attack on Christian villages near the city of Jos this week. The Red Cross said the attacks were part of a cycle of sectarian violence.

"After the January killings, the villages should have been properly protected," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said. "Clearly, previous efforts to tackle the underlying causes have been inadequate, and in the meantime the wounds have festered and grown deeper."

John Hassan of the Anglican Church in Jos told CBN News that Muslim leaders want to drive Christians from the area.

"They are calling for a genocide in plateau state," Hassan said. "They were calling for Muslims to come together and launch an attack on plateau on the Christians because they felt that plateau state, which is a predominantly Christian state, did belong to them and therefore they see no reason why they can't flush out the Christians as the infidels and take over the state."

Hassan said the military does not always protect Christians because the troops sympathize with the Muslims.

American-born Imam Calls U.S. Muslims to 'Jihad'

CAIRO - In an audio-taped message, an American-born imam called U.S. Muslims to jihad ("holy" war) against America.

In heavily accented English, Anwar al-Awlaki, born in New Mexico to Yemini parents, said every Muslim must eventually decide, as he did, to obey Islam's call for jihad against America.

"I eventually came to the conclusion that jihad against America is binding upon myself just as it is binding on every other Muslim," al-Awaki said.

CNN aired excerpts of his latest message on Wednesday. "To the Muslims in America I have this to say: how can your conscience call you to live in peaceful coexistence with a nation responsible for the tyranny and crimes against your own brothers and sisters? How can you have loyalty to a government leading the war against Islam and Muslims?" he asked.

Al-Awlaki, who is believed to be in hiding in Yemin, was in close e-mail contact with Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, indicted for shooting down 13 soldiers at the Ft. Hood Army base in Texas this past November. He may also have contacted Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the "Christmas Day bomber," sent to blow up a passenger Northwest airliner on its approach to the Detroit airport.

"Our brother, Umar Farouk, has succeeded in breaking through the security systems that have cost the U.S. government alone over $40 billion since 9/11," al-Awlaki said in an excerpt provided by the SITE Intelligence, a group that monitors Islamic Web sites.

Key Al Qaeda Leader Killed

Meanwhile, U.S. officials say the man suspected of masterminding an attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan is dead. Hussein al Yemeni, a top al Qaeda planner and explosives expert, was reportedly killed in a U.S. missile strike in the Miran Shah area of Pakistan on Wednesday.

He is believed to have plotted the bombing that killed seven CIA employees last December. "Al-Yemeni would be the latest victory in a systematic campaign that has pounded al Qaeda and its allies, depriving them of leaders, plotters, and fighters," a U.S. counterterrorism official told CNN. "For them, there can be neither safety nor rest."

In the past two years, U.S. government intelligence agencies have identified more than a dozen American Muslims actively pursuing jihad.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Galatians 5:1