c. 1996 Religion News Service
Investment fund following Islamic law started in Britain
(RNS)-Flemings, a major British investment bank, announced Monday (May 20) it is beginning an investment fund that follows the requirements of Islamic law (sharia).
The fund, called Oasis, is designed to appeal to Britain’s growing Muslim community, estimated at between 1.5 million and 2 million.
According to an announcement by the bank, a sharia supervisory board of three Islamic scholars-two from Saudi Arabia and one from Pakistan-has created investment guidelines for the fund and agreed to a list of companies that meet the criteria.
Excluded companies include those in such fields as alcohol or gambling.
Banks and insurance companies also are on the list of excluded companies. While the Koran allows sharing in the risk of investment and in the consequent profit or loss from investing, it forbids charging or receiving interest.
In addition, dividends received from companies have to be”purified”by calculating the proportion that represents interest on cash deposits. That money has to be removed and donated to a suitable charity.
Flemings said the new fund will require a net investment of $50,000.
Pope says lack of faith in Europe creates a cultural crisis
(RNS)-Pope John Paul II, ending a three-day visit to Slovenia, said Sunday (May 19) that Europe faces a”profound cultural crisis”that can be overcome only by religious faith.”The current climate of anguish and lack of faith regarding life’s meaning, and the confusion shown by European culture, calls on us to look in a new way at the relationship between Christianity and culture, between faith and reason,”John Paul said in the major speech of his visit to the country that once was part of Yugoslavia.
On Saturday, John Paul celebrated his 76th birthday with an outdoor Mass attended by about 75,000 people, the Associated Press reported.
The pontiff plans to visit three other European countries this year-France, Germany and Hungary-and Vatican officials said he is likely to return to the theme of Europe’s cultural crisis during each of the visits.”This is the hour of truth for Europe,”John Paul declared, calling on his listeners to protect the young from”skepticism, egotism, violence and drugs.” He said that secular humanism had been undermined with the waning of the bitter ideological battles fought in Europe before the fall of communism and that religious faith must fill the void.”The walls have fallen, iron curtains are no more, but the challenge of understanding life and the value of liberty remain stronger than ever,”he said.
Chinese officials, Buddhist monks clash in Tibet
(RNS)-Chinese officials have sealed off one of Tibet’s largest Buddhist monasteries after recent protests in which monks and nuns were arrested, according to the London-based Tibet Information Network (TIN).
At least 40 people were arrested May 7 at the Ganden monastery, located on a mountaintop 24 miles east of Lhasa. At least one monk was wounded by gunfire, according to TIN, which is linked to dissidents in the region.
Drepung monastery, located four miles west of Lhasa, and Ramoche temple in Lhasa have also been shut down, the Reuter news agency reported.
TIN reported a second clash occurred May 14 in Lhasa, with an estimated 80 people injured, at least 30 of them women.
The protests erupted after the Chinese government imposed new restrictions banning the display in Buddhist temples of photographs of the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual and political leader of Tibet.
The crackdown shifted to secondary schools in Lhasa May 16, TIN reported. Students were reportedly told they could no longer possess photos of the Dalai Lama and could no longer wear”sung-du,”the red cords Buddhists commonly wear about the wrist or neck. Literally called”protection knots,”the cords are bestowed by a lama in the course of a religious ceremony. The cords have no direct link to the Dalai Lama, but rather signify the protection of the Buddha.
Pictures of the Dalai Lama have been allowed in Tibet as part of a Chinese decision to allow religious freedom. But China’s tolerance of support for the Dalai Lama has declined since the death of the late Panchen Lama, the second-ranking Tibetan Buddhist leader. The Dalai Lama identified a child believed to the the next incarnation of the Panchen Lama. China has identified a different successor.
Michigan church to stand by its pastor
(RNS)-A Michigan congregation whose pastor has been criticized for his liberal views has voted to break away from the Reformed Church in America.
Members of the Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Mich., voted 803-116 Sunday to stand by the Rev. Richard Rhem and become an independent congregation, the Associated Press reported.
Regional church officials had voted in February for a”peaceful separation”with Rhem unless he recanted his views that non-Christians can find salvation without recognizing Jesus and that contemporary experience can affect biblical interpretation.”This is a sad day,”said the Rev. Richard Veenstra, a regional leader of the Reformed Church in America, one of the nation’s oldest Protestant denominations.
Rhem has said he came under scrutiny by church officials after allowing gay worshipers to use Christ Community Church.”Christ Community is only a building to me now,”said Karen Nienhouse, a congregant who opposed breaking ties with the denomination.”I thought Christ Community was my community of faith, but I’m waking up to the fact it no longer is.”
Ireland’s Presbyterian clergy facing stress problems
(RNS)-About one in five of Ireland’s Presbyterian ministers is suffering major stress problems, according to a report by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
But the stress is the same as that faced by clergy elsewhere, stemming from conflict in congregations and a feeling of too much to do in too little time, rather than from sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, the report said.
Indeed, according to the report by the denomination’s Divine Healing Committee, two-thirds of the Presbyterian congregations surveyed said they were”relatively”unaffected by terror campaigns of the Irish Republican Army and Loyalist paramilitaries.
Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious wire service, said the survey of Presbyterian congregations in Ireland and Northern Ireland was the first of its kind.”This report gives clear evidence that ministers, like many others, suffer from stress, and the question that has to be asked, as in other professions, is `Who cares for the careers?,”Ivan Hull, author of the report, told ENI.”Ministers do not expect to have a stress-free life, and because of their commitment to their vocation, most work between 60 and 70 hours a week,”he said.”However, if nothing is done, occupational stress will become an increasing problem within the church and is bound to affect the quality of ministry being offered.”
United Way president stepping down
(RNS)-Saying her job was done, Elaine L. Chao, who took over leadership of a scandal-beleaguered United Way of America in 1987, has announced she will leave the charitable organization by Sept. 1.
Chao, a former banker and director of the Peace Corps under President Bush, was appointed president of United Way of America in August 1992 after a scandal surrounding former president William Aramony.
Aramony and two aides were convicted in April 1995 of defrauding the United Way of America, the national umbrella group for some 1,400 local United Way organizations, of about $600,000. Aramony is serving a seven-year prison term for conspiracy and tax fraud. He is appealing the conviction.”I was brought in nearly four years ago to help an organization in crisis,”Chao said in a statement released Saturday (May 18).”Today, United Way of America is a transformed organization … My job is completed,” In 1994, the last year for which figures are available, United Ways across the country raised $3.08 billion for local and national charities. The figure was below the peak of $3.17 billion in 1991, but giving has improved under Chao’s tenure, reversing a sharp fall-off after the Aramony scandal.
Chao, the wife of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said she plans to volunteer in Bob Dole’s Republican presidential campaign and work for her husband’s re-election.
Quote of the day: Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a supporter of assisted suicide, on his view of religion
(RNS)-Dr. Jack Kevorkian, acquitted on May 14 of two counts of assisted suicide, was interviewed by Andy Rooney on CBS'”60 Minutes”on Sunday (May 19). In the interview, reported by AP, Kevorkian described his religious beliefs:”You’ve lost common sense in this society because of religious fanaticism and dogma. You’re basing your laws and your whole outlook … on mythology. Religion is an internal, spiritual world. And I have my own with my god, Johann Sebastian Bach. Why not? You invent gods. … At least he’s not invented.”
MJP END RNS
