THE Archbishop of Canterbury is backing the findings of a new book claiming that Britons no longer trust large companies. Dr Rowan Williams said he agreed with the Christian authors of Faith in Governance that British executives needed radically to rethink company structures to win back public trust: “More and more people are lamenting the breakdown of trust in social, commercial and political life,” he said.
A SOLDIER accused of plotting to murder a Catholic archbishop in Central America 24 years ago is on trial in the United States. Alvaro Rafael Saravia, a retired army captain, is charged with helping to mastermind the killing of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero of El Salvador in 1980. Archbishop Romero was famed for championing the poor and criticising El Salvador’s military rulers.
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THE Government of Kuwait this week established an expert panel of clergy, psychologists and education experts to combat religious extremism and terrorism. Clergy on the panel are being asked to organise a campaign to “rectify deviant religious ideas embraced by youth, and guide and reform young men returning to Kuwait after fighting in Iraq”. They are also to monitor what preachers say at Friday prayers, and examine how Islam is taught in religious schools.
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A SCOTTISH Christian is planning to run a programme of 100 Christian events alongside next years’ Edinburgh Fringe festival. Richard Lo was inspired when 20 religious-themed shows and events appeared at this year’s Fringe, including performances by the Soweto Gospel Choir and a dramatisation of the Life of Jesus.
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A VICAR from Lancashire is seeking DNA samples from the descendants of a Pilgrim Father who helped to settle America. The Rev John Cree of St Laurence’s church, Chorley, is looking for descendants of Myles Standish, one of the 102 English settlers to sail to America aboard the Mayflower in 1620. Later, Standish, a former army captain, founded the Massachusetts town of Duxbury, which is also a place in Lancashire. Mr Cree says the American General Society of Mayflower Descendants is to analyse blood samples of Standish’s descendants to determine where he came from.
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The communist leadership of North Korea is asking South Korea to remove tall illuminated crosses that they can see across the border. In return, they are promising to dismantle political carvings on the cliffs of North Korea celebrating socialism and socialist leaders. A North Korean official said the crosses had been deliberately placed “so that they could be very clearly seen” across the border, “especially during Christmas”.
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THE Iraqi Institute for Peace has asked the Three Faiths Forum in Britain, representing Jews, Muslims and Christians, to work with it to promote democracy and freedom of worship in Iraq. Canon Andrew White, director of the International Centre for Reconciliation, described the plan as “real cutting-edge interfaith relations”.
A £1 MILLION block of flats is to open for Jewish students at Leeds University in September because the university is closing down kosher halls of residence. The King David flats will contain a gym, sauna, tennis courts, a five-a-side football pitch and pool table. Every night, all 33 residents will receive a cooked kosher meal, prepared in accordance to Jewish ritual laws.
A CHRISTIAN has been tortured to death by police in Pakistan, according to a UK-based human rights group. A spokesman for CLAAS, the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement, said 26-year-old Nasir Masih had been falsely accused of theft before he died this month after torture by police in Saddar, Pakistan. “The Police in Pakistan are biased against Christians and fair treatment is impossible,” Nasir Saeed from CLAAS alleged.
SIXTY Jewish graves were vandalised in a Birmingham cemetery last Saturday, causing £100,000 of damage. “There is no doubt this was an act of anti-Semitism,” said Sir Bernard Zissman, the chairman of the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation, owner of the graveyard. Stickers bearing National Front logos were found on some graves.
AN AMERICAN hospital has redesigned its hospital gowns in order to persuade female Muslim patients to attend doctors’ appointments. The Maine Medical Centre began to alter the gowns when hospital interpreters for the patients, most of whom are recent migrants from Somalia, revealed that embarrassment over short gowns was causing up to three in every ten women to cancel their doctors’ appointments.
EUROPEAN and African Christians are to march through ten American cities with yokes round their necks next month, as an apology for slavery. The members of the London-based group Lifeline Expedition claim the march will bring reconciliation and healing to Africa, Europe and America.
A MAGAZINE urging Muslim women to join the jihad, or holy war, has been published on the internet. Al-Khansaa, gives fitness tips for female “jihadis” and advice on how to bring up children to fight non-believers. An unsigned editorial comments: “The blood of our husbands and the limbs of our children are an offering to God.” The magazine says it is run by “A women’s media centre” in Saudi Arabia. Islamic experts in the region have condemned al-Khansaa as “a media stunt (by terrorists) to show their enemies that they can mobilise everyone, including women, against them”.