c. 2006 Religion News Service

U.S. Muslim Groups Demand Release of Funds Held by Suspect Charities

(RNS) Muslim organizations demanded Thursday (March 16) that the U.S. Treasury Department release millions of dollars in donations held by charities whose assets have been frozen because of suspected ties to terrorism.

“If the government obstructs the purpose of charitable giving, then the government must provide a remedy that ensures that the money goes to those who need it,” said Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C.

The demand was made after a Thursday meeting in Washington of representatives of 10 charities, advocacy and civil rights groups who discussed the closure of KindHearts, a Toledo, Ohio, charity. The Treasury Department shut it down while it investigates allegations that the group’s money went to terrorists.

“The donors’ rights are not being honored when the government seizes the assets of a Muslim charity. The (KindHearts) money was intended to go to feed and help the victims of the Pakistan earthquake,” Al-Marayati said, “and now these intended recipients are going o suffer from the decision of the Treasury Department.”

According to MPAC, more than 25 Muslim-American nonprofits have been shut down since Sept. 11, 2001, because of what it described as “vague allegations” of providing support to terrorists. Critics add the government still doesn’t have any convictions against employees or board members of the shuttered charities, and that it has never uncovered a money trail linking the charities to terrorists.

A Treasury Department spokeswoman rejected those criticisms, asserting that the government has made the evidence public.

“Those designations have stood up to legal scrutiny and all legal challenges,” said Molly Millerwine.

She added that the Treasury Department, which was not invited to the meeting, has been in frequent contact with Muslim organizations about charitable giving, resulting in the creation of the National Council on American Muslim Nonprofits last March.

But the government has not adequately advised Muslim charities how to comply with government guidelines, said Al-Marayati, adding that closure of the charities hurts America’s image in the Muslim world.

_ Omar Sacirbey

U.S. Government Outlines Ways Churches Could Battle Avian Flu Pandemic

WASHINGTON (RNS) As troubling reports continue to surface of the possibility of the avian flu virus jumping to humans, the federal government has released a list of ways religious groups can prepare to help in the event of a widespread outbreak of the lethal virus.

“The collaboration of faith-based and community organizations with public health agencies will be important in protecting the public if and when a pandemic occurs,” Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said in a statement.

The avian flu virus has so far spread to humans primarily through contact with infected birds, but scientists fear that the virus will mutate into a form that could spread easily from human to human, potentially killing millions of people.

“(Faith-based) organizations provide vital support services and can help build awareness of the pandemic influenza threat,” Leavitt said. “By working together now, we’ll be better equipped to serve communities in the future.”

The two-page checklist for faith-based groups, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, includes suggestions such as obtaining regular flu shots, identifying religious rites and practices that could facilitate the spread of the virus, and addressing the “rumors, misinformation, fear and anxiety” that a widespread outbreak could produce.

An outbreak of the H5N1 avian flu virus in Turkey _ the first case of the disease spreading outside East Asia _ has concerned heath officials worldwide. More than 100 people have died of bird flu since late 2003, most of whom lived in China and Southeast Asia.

The federal government has set aside $100 million for state governments to assist community groups in preparing for a flu outbreak, and Health and Human Services is planning “Pandemic Planning Summits” in each of the 50 states in coming months.

_ David Barnes

Catholic Bishops Endorse Constitutional Change Banning Same-Sex Marriage

(RNS) An influential committee of Roman Catholic bishops has renewed support for a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage even though some Congress watchers say the initiative appears doomed _ at least in the near term.

On Tuesday (March 14,), an administrative committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reiterated its 2003 endorsement of the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment. USCCB President William Skylstad promptly pledged to “communicate the administrative committee’s endorsement to every diocesan bishop in the country,” according to a USCCB statement.

“What are called `homosexual unions,’ because they do not express full human complementarity and because they are inherently non-procreative, cannot be given the status of marriage,” the committee said.

The bishops once again vowed to fight “any legislative and judicial attempts, both at state and federal levels, to grant same-sex unions the equivalent status and rights of marriage _ by naming them marriage, civil unions or by other means.”

Efforts to thwart the emergence of gay marriage took off in 2004 after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that gays were entitled to marry under that state’s constitution. That fall, 11 states passed their own constitutional amendments banning gay marriage.

But on the federal level, even conservative supporters of a constitutional amendment don’t see momentum building in the run-up to election 2006.

“We don’t see great energy on (Capitol) Hill for this, not anything like what we see on the state level,” said Patrick Fagan, research fellow in family and culture at the socially conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington. “For something this big, they would need to get going if we’re going have the national debate.”

With support from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., the Senate is scheduled to vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment in early June.

_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald

Mystery of Missing `Little Buddha’ Continues in Nepal

(RNS) A teenage “Little Buddha” who had been meditating and fasting for 10 months in a forest area of Nepal is missing, with no clear clues pointing to his whereabouts.

Police and local people have searched a jungle in the southern district of Bara in a bid to trace the 15-year-old boy, Ram Bahadur Banjan, who was last seen Saturday (March 11).

Beginning in May 2005, thousands came to see the boy in his forest abode because they thought he was the reincarnation of Nepal’s Gautama Siddhartha, the Buddha. Bara is about 100 miles from Katmandu, the capital city of the Hindu kingdom of Nepal.

Makeshift shops had been set up by the locals to cater to the visitors who came from different parts of Nepal and neighboring India. Buddhist flags were erected around the site where Banjan was meditating, and booklets carrying his photograph and CDs were in demand in Katmandu and other parts of the country.

Banjan’s followers claimed that he did not take food or even water throughout his 10-month meditation. They would not, however, allow any independent investigation into his health conditions, saying that it would “disturb” him.

Visitors were permitted to view Banjan only between dawn and dusk from a cordoned area about 80 feet away.

The “Little Buddha,” as Banjan was popularly known, was usually seen sitting cross-legged and motionless, with his eyes closed, in a niche among the roots of a tree in the jungle. His friends had previously said that Banjan was planning to continue meditating for another six years, until he attained enlightenment.

Last November, Banjan reportedly stood up one day and said to his followers: “Tell the people not to call me a Buddha. I don’t have the Buddha’s energy.”

The area where Banjan was meditating is known to have substantial numbers of communist rebels who have been fighting government troops for a decade, and there were fears that he may have been kidnapped. However, police officials have discounted reports that the teenager may have been abducted either by the rebels or by local criminals. They said that Banjan might have just wandered off.

The mystery surrounding the missing “Little Buddha” has attracted considerable media attention, not only in Nepal but in other parts of the world as well.

_ Achal Narayanan

British Pray-As-You-Go Web Site an International Hit During Lent

LONDON (RNS) A Roman Catholic order in Britain has successfully launched a “pray-as-you-go” Web site aimed at putting stressed-out commuters and other travelers in touch with God via their iPods and cellphones.

Since Ash Wednesday (March 1), British Jesuits have been offering daily prayer services, spiritual music and readings from the Bible that can be downloaded from their Web site (http://www.pray-as-you-go.org) and played back on personal communications gadgets on journeys to and from work or school.

The service was planned as a project for the season of Lent, but on Ash Wednesday alone, some 3,300 prayer sessions _ each lasting about 10 to 12 minutes _ were downloaded from countries as far away as the United States and Australia.

By mid-March, the total stood at more than 33,000 sessions and was still climbing.

“So many people have been enthused by pray-as-you-go,” Father Peter Scally, director of Jesuits Media Initiatives that runs it, told journalists, “that we are left in no doubt that it is addressing a very real need in people’s spiritual lives.”

So much so, London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper reported, that the British Jesuits are now expected to extend “pray-as-you-go” well beyond the end of Lent.

Each session on the Web site opens with a peal of bells and closes with questions aimed at prompting personal reflection.

The site also offers the option of using “pray-as-you-go” as a daily podcast, with iTunes or other podcasting software, which automates the downloading process and keeps the user up to date with the site’s latest offering.

_ Al Webb

Quote of the Day: Evangelist Franklin Graham

(RNS) “If people think Islam is such a wonderful religion, just go to Saudi Arabia and make it your home. Just live there. If you think Islam is such a wonderful religion, I mean, go _ go and live under the Taliban somewhere. I mean, … you’re free to do that.”

_ Evangelist Franklin Graham, in an interview aired on ABC News’ “Nightline” on Wednesday (March 15).

MO/PH END RNS