c. 1998 Religion News Service

Investigators suspect 2,000 Christians caught in investment scam

(RNS) Investigators suspect more than 2,000 Christians have become victims of an alleged investment scam by a Florida ministry that was shut down by a court order in March.

Jonathan Strawder and his Sovereign Ministries International of Orlando received between $11 million and $14 million in less than a year after making promises of returns of more than 600 percent and profits that would build churches in Poland and Kenya, the Associated Press reported Tuesday (Oct. 27).

Now, Strawder, 25, is being investigated on suspicion of fraud and unregistered securities sales.

Prosecutors are expected to file charges against Strawder this week. He has denied any wrongdoing.

One Orlando couple, Diane and Frank Smith, gave Strawder more than $47,000 after they were told that their investment would bring a return of 360 percent a year and allow them to minister to recently released inmates. They have only received $6,000.

Investigators have claimed the operation was a Ponzi scheme _ a scam in which early participants are paid with money invested by later ones _ and got a court order to shut the ministry down.

The organization returned just $1.2 million to investors and another $1.2 million was used for commissions for”ambassadors”or salespeople who convinced church groups and individuals to take part in the plan. Many of the salespeople also lost money.”We trusted Jon. He had a trustful look,”said Diane Smith, 51, who was an ambassador.”He was just out of college. He was getting married and he just looked so wholesome.” Two court-appointed receivers who are handling the ministries’ affairs have tracked down $6.5 million in assets for the investors.”When it’s all said and done, we would be lucky to give them 50 cents on the dollar,”said David Cohen, one of the receivers.

Strawder began Sovereign Ministries in April 1997 a year after he graduated from the University of Florida.

Investigators say he called the ministry”a specialist in Bible economics”whose programs would yield as much as 600 percent annually. They also said he made investors sign a form calling the deal a charitable gift rather than an investment.

In court papers, Strawder has denied selling securities and said they were gifts to his ministry.

Strawder’s lawyer, Joel Hirschhorn said his client may himself have been cheated by a person whom he trusted to invest his money abroad.”In many respects, he is a naive young man who himself was swindled and misled by others,”said Hirschhorn, who has helped authorities track down money associated with his client.

Middle East agreement prompts cautious optimism

(RNS) Religious groups reacted with cautious optimism to the latest interim Middle East peace agreement, welcoming the reestablishment of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations while noting the difficulties still standing in the way of real peace for the region.

The World Council of Churches said the accord signed Friday (Oct. 23) at the White House by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat gave”new hope for a (Middle East) future shaped by reasoned dialogue rather than the inevitability of violence.” At the same time, the WCC _ an international fellowship of more than 300 denominations in over 100 nations _ acknowledged that implementation of the agreement will require”great civil courage and political skill.””We urge the parties to hold firmly to their commitments, and the wider international community and the peoples of the world to spare no effort in encouraging all sides to abandon the use of aggressive force and to pursue peace through negotiation,”the WCC said in a statement.

Jewish groups were among the quickest to respond, and with the same cautious optimism.

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations also noted that the agreement’s success depends upon the parties'”full compliance”and that”achieving a final peace treaty will not be easy.” The conference, an umbrella group for 53 leading American Jewish organizations, reflected Israel’s prime concern when it said the”most vital element”in keeping the peace process alive”will be full commitment and cooperation in fighting terrorism and assuring security.” Americans for Peace Now, a more liberal Jewish group, said”both Israelis and Palestinians must strictly adhere to the commitments they’ve made.”The group also urged continued strong American involvement in the negotiations, as did Israel Policy Forum, another liberal Jewish group.

The U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East _ a group that includes Muslims, Jews and Christians _ said it would sponsor a National Interfaith Convocation Nov. 22 in support of the peace process that will focus on further U.S. involvement.

Bones of Kennewick man to be moved for more study

(RNS) Kennewick Man, a collection of 9,000-year-old bones that has intrigued anthropologists and sparked a legal fight stretching from Washington state to Washington, D.C., is being packed up and moved from Richland, Wash., to Seattle.

Since its discovery in 1996, Northwest Indians, Old Norse pagans, government bureaucrats and anthropologists have argued over the origins of Kennewick Man and who may rightly lay claim to the bones.

Both the Indians and the pagans say Kennewick Man is one of their ancestors. The scientists and anthropologists want possession so they can further study the find.

The bones have been in the custody of the Army Corps of Engineers and when the corps said it was turning the bones over to a coalition of Northwest Indian tribes for reburial, eight scientists sued for the federal government to allow them to study the bones.

The legal dispute has put the remains in the hands of U.S. Magistrate John Jelderks, who announced Monday (Oct. 26) the bones are to be moved from the Pacific Northwest Laboratory in Richland to the Burke Museum in Seattle, the Associated Press reported.”We’re a small museum, but we’re known for our technological advances, our research and our storage sites and the expertise of our collectors,”museum spokeswoman Sherrie Boyer said.

Stephen McNallen of the Asatura Folk Assembly, the group that follows the pre-Christian Norse gods and that has also sued for access to the bones, said he plans to follow the move.

Unlike the Indian coalition which seeks reburial of the bones, the Asatura group generally favors more study.”It’s one way by which Kennewick Man can tell us his story,”said McNallen.

Report: Vietnam denies U.N. official access to dissident monk’s pagoda

(RNS) Vietnamese security police have prevented a United Nations envoy from entering the pagoda of a leading Buddhist dissident monk, according to U.N. sources.

The government, however, has denied the report.

According to U.N. and dissident sources, U.N. Special Rapporteur for Religious Intolerance Abdeltattah Amor was barred Monday (Oct. 26) from entering the Than Minh Zen monastery to meet Thich Quang Do.”I’m not disappointed,”Do said in a telephone interview with Reuters Tuesday.”They (the police) speak for me more than I can because there is not freedom here.” He said the action showed Amor”the reality of what is happening in Vietnam _ that there is no freedom of religion and no democracy as they always declare.” A government spokesman, however, rejected the accusation.”There is no activity to make obstacles for Mr. Amor as reported,”a foreign ministry spokeswoman said without elaborating.

Amor has been on a 10-day investigative trip around Vietnam. He said last week it is too early to assess or report any findings from the visit.

Although Vietnam’s constitution enshrines freedom of religion, the government maintains tight controls over religious groups.

Scottish pastor invents dog breed to save mongrels

(RNS) A Presbyterian minister in Scotland, in an effort to save mongrels who might otherwise be put to death, has come up with a unique way to save the dogs _ she’s invented a new breed, with registry papers and all, and she’s offering it to anyone with a dog.

When the Rev. Irene Gillespie of Newtonmore in the Highlands of Scotland, took a beautiful mongrel dog home from the local pet rescue center, she didn’t realize she would soon find herself not just with one dog but with seven puppies as well.

Her husband remembered what he had done when in a similar fix back in the 1960s: he gave them a name, papers and put them up for sale as”Clackmannanshire haggis-hounds”_ and, in the traditional Scottish expression, they went”like snaw off a dyke”(like snow off a dry-stone wall).

So Gillespie decided the new puppies should not spend their lives labeled as mongrels but should be the first in a dynasty of a new breed _ Newtonmore Haggishound.

Not only that, the Gillespies decided that anybody (even Homer Simpson) should be able to register their pet dog as an exemplar of this breed _ provided they made a suitable donation to the church.

Dog owners who wish to find out more can do so by making their way to the Web site http://www.newtonmore.com/haggishounds.

There they will learn what their dog has to be to qualify as a Newtonmore Haggishound: First, it has to be a dog (though in the manse at Newtonmore they are thinking of extending honorary membership to cats); it has to be your pet; and, most important, it has to have some fur or at least one leg.

Meanwhile of the seven puppies that arrived eight weeks ago at the Newtonmore manse, five are already in new homes, with their registry papers, another has been found a home, and the seventh is expected to go soon.

Quote of the day: President George Bush

(RNS)”It is my firm belief that no one can be president without a belief in God, without understanding the power of prayer, or without faith.” President George Bush, speaking about his Christian faith before an audience attending evangelist Billy Graham’s crusade on Sunday (Oct. 25) in Tampa, Fla.

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