c. 1996 Religion News Service
African-American Muslim leader meets with Pope John Paul II
(RNS) Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, leader of the nation’s largest mainstream African-American Muslim organization, and Pope John Paul II met for the first time Wednesday (Oct. 2) following the pontiff’s last regular weekly audience prior to his entering the hospital Sunday for appendix surgery.
Iman Abdulmalik Mohammed, a spokesman for Warith Deen Mohammed, said the pope and the Muslim leader exchanged brief greetings following the pontiff’s address to a St. Peter’s Square crowd estimated at 20,000.
The Vatican encounter follows a year of meetings between Warith Deen Mohammed and his representatives and Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore and Cardinal Francis A. Arinze, the Vatican’s top official for interreligious affairs.
Warith Dean Mohammed, son of the late Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, claims some 2.5 million African-American Muslims as followers. He and the Rev. Louis Farrakhan, who now leads the National of Islam, became rivals after Warith Dean Mohammed rejected his father’s race-based theology, which Farrakhan still espouses. Warith Deen Mohammed has since embraced orthodox Sunni Islam.
In recent years, Warith Deen Mohammed has sought to forge interreligious ties with Jews as well as Catholics and other Christians.
Catholics and Muslims”have similar concerns about the family, children and other social issues,”spokesman Abdulmalik Mohammed said in an interview.”We hope to soon be able to issue joint statements.”
Lawyers say New Era founder was insane during tenure at foundation
(RNS) Lawyers for John G. Bennett Jr., founder of the collapsed Foundation for New Era Philanthropy, plan to argue that he was legally insane during the six years he ran what prosecutors are calling the biggest charity fraud in U.S. history.
Bennett was indicted Sept. 27 on 82 counts of defrauding hundreds of charities of more than $135 million through his now-bankrupt organization.
Attorney Odell Guyton, in a two-paragraph notice filed Thursday (Oct. 3), said defense lawyers will”produce both lay and expert testimony relating to a mental disease or defect or other mental condition … bearing upon the issue of guilt.” Bennett, 59, a former drug and alcohol counselor, pleaded innocent to the fraud indictment, which includes charges of wire, mail and bank fraud and money laundering.
Under federal law, Bennett would have to convince a jury that a mental defect or illness made it impossible for him to appreciate that his actions were wrong or to”conform his conduct to the requirements of law.” The Radnor, Pa.-based New Era offered charities, including evangelical ministries, a”matching grant”program that promised to double their money. Federal investigators say the program was a Ponzi scheme that created the illusion of financial success by using contributions from new investors to pay previous ones.
Michigan pastor who opened congregation to gays leaves Reformed Church
(RNS) A controversial Michigan pastor and his congregation have reached agreement with the Reformed Church in America to leave the denomination, taking their church and its assets with them.”We are now in the status of an independent, non-denominational congregation,”the Rev. Richard Rhem said in an interview Friday (Oct. 4).
The agreement to allow Rhem and his 2,800-member congregation, Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Mich., to leave was approved Oct. 1 by the Reformed Church’s regional body, the Muskegon Classis, by a 27 to 23 vote.
Rhem angered leaders of his theologically conservative Protestant denomination by allowing the Muskegon Metropolitan Community Church, a primarily homosexual congregation, to meet at his church, where he has been pastor since 1971. He further upset them by saying that belief in Jesus Christ is not the only path to God and salvation.”While I personally affirm belief in Jesus for myself, I have taken a pluralistic position concerning others,”Rhem said.
In addition to allowing Rhem and the congregation to retain ownership of their church and its assets, the agreement allows the two assistant pastors also associated with Christ Community Church to take up to a year to decide whether they wish to stay with the Reformed Church. The same agreement applies to four retired pastors affiliated with the congregation.
Rhem said the agreement in no way financially obligates his congregation to the Reformed Church, but that the congregation will likely continue to contribute to Reformed Church mission activities.”I think it’s as peaceful and as amicable as it could be,”Elder Howard Connell, president of the classis, said of the agreement, according to the independent United Reformed News Service.
Madalyn Murray O’Hair’s son files missing persons report on mother
(RNS) The son of well-known American atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair has filed a missing persons report on his mother, who has not been heard from since Aug. 1995.
William Murray, a Christian advocate who has been estranged from his mother for more than 10 years, said Thursday (Oct. 3) that Texas police have opened an investigation into O’Hair’s disappearance but have few leads, the Reuter news agency said.
O’Hair vanished after telling colleagues that she was going to New York to picket Pope John Paul II’s 1995 visit. Her younger son, Jon Murray, 44, and 31-year-old granddaughter, Robin Murray-O’Hair, disappeared at the same time as Madalyn.
William Murray said police told him earlier this week that they had located his daughter Robin’s 1985 Porsche in a long-term parking lot at the Austin, Texas, airport.”The car has been processed and there is nothing suspicious,”said Mike Burgess, a spokesman for the Austin police. Burgess said the vehicle had been at the airport for several months and”there is no indication of foul play.” O’Hair, founder of American Atheists, is best known for winning the landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision outlawing organized prayer in public schools.
Burgess said that if O’Hair is found and asks police not to reveal her whereabouts, they will quietly close the investigation.”It is not against the law in Texas to be missing,”he said.
On the day his mother disappeared, Murray said she left a note on the door of American Atheists’ headquarters telling the staff they had been laid off. But he said the atheist group still occupies a”million-dollar office complex”as well as a”quarter-million dollar home”that belonged to his mother.
While Murray said he filed the missing persons report to bring”some kind of closure”to media interest, American Atheists spokesman Spike Tyson said Murray is more interested in gaining access to his mother’s assets.
Muslim advocates condemn raid at main mosque in Moscow
(RNS) Muslim leaders condemned a raid by riot police on Moscow’s main mosque as”barbarian”and demanded apologies from authorities Thursday (Oct. 3).
The raid Tuesday (Oct. 1) occurred amid growing Russian nervousness about Muslim fundamentalism, triggered in part by the war in Chechnya and events in Afghanistan, which is controlled by Islamic rebels.
Nur, a Muslim advocacy group, called the raid”a black page in the book of Islam’s history in Russia,”and sought apologies and punishment for the officers who took part in the incident, the Associated Press said.
Nur said that 18 worshipers were arrested inside and near the mosque and several armed officers entered the compound wearing boots,”desecrating the holy house of Allah.”Nur said those who were detained were beaten with rifle butts and clubs.
Police said they were looking for weapons, criminals and people lacking Moscow residence permits. They also said a clergyman asked them to eject three rowdy men from the mosque who turned out to be Chechens.
Police said they took the three men outside the mosque and detained them and seven other individuals, all of whom lacked proper documents.
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said Thursday (Oct. 3) that there was nothing inappropriate about the raid, which took place just before evening prayers. Luzhkov said that only one policeman entered the mosque and took off his shoes before entering in line with Muslim custom. The mayor denied that any of those detained were beaten.
Periodically, Moscow police round up Chechens and other people from the Caucasus region of Russia using document checks as a pretext for their action. The roundups have prompted complaints of discrimination from people from the Caucasus and Central Asia and members of minority religions.
Nur sent letters to Luzhkov and Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov seeking formal apologies and guarantees that raids of this sort will not occur again.
Quote of the Day: Evangelist Billy Graham
(RNS) Billy Graham, speaking to 88,000 teen-agers at his crusade in his boyhood hometown of Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 28, expressed his concern about popular music lyrics:”I’m troubled by the lyrics in popular music today. MTV Awards winners The Smashing Pumpkins sing about being a rat trapped in a cage, that they can never be saved. That’s not true _ Jesus can save them. You don’t have to be a rat in a cage as The Smashing Pumpkins sing. You can become a child of God tonight.”
MJP END RNS
