Record income and demand for help from National Zakat Foundation
The National Zakat Foundation has reported the highest income in its 11-year history, distributing over £5.5 million in 2022, up from £3.8m in 2021. Its annual report said it helped support 17,000 Muslims in need in the UK, up from 11,100 the previous year, with applications from families rising due to the cost of living crisis and rising energy prices, alongside thousands of Muslim refugees and asylum seekers from Syria, Sudan, and Yemen. Zakat is the giving that is required from all Muslims, as one of the five pillars of the faith. The NZF generates its own income and helps distribute zakat from other Muslim charities through its established processes.
Visitors’ centre for St Bride’s Mound to honour Pagan and Christian roots
Plans have been submitted for a visitor’s centre at St Bride’s Mound in Glastonbury, a sacred place for pagans and an ancient Christian burial site in Britain predating Iona Abbey. This is a further step in an initiative by the Friends organisation, which was set up to protect the area and create a sanctuary. St Bride’s Mound takes its name from the Triple Goddess of the Celts, Bride, Brigit and Brighde, the guardian of wells and springs and goddess of fire, a place of pagan festivals. It is thought the church adapted the pagan tradition which developed into the legend of St Brigid. An archaeological dig identified 35 skeletons as male and dated them to the 5th century, suggesting it was the site of a monastery. The development of the centre has been made possible through a government grant to enhance towns in Britain.
US Methodist ministers report decline in wellbeing
A survey of United Methodist clergy in the US has found a significant decline in their well-being, following a turbulent few years with a schism over same sex marriage, falling numbers in congregations and the pressure of managing through the pandemic. The survey by Westpath reviewed physical, emotional, spiritual, social and financial well-being. Only 11 per cent said they were in excellent health, 49 per cent were overweight, 10 per cent were depressed, more than half had trouble sleeping, 33 per cent felt isolated at work. Around a third said they had dealt with conflict due to the same sex marriage dispute and they experienced high levels of stress and risk of arthritis.
Missionary nurse released by Haiti kidnappers
Kidnappers in Haiti have released an American nurse who worked for El Roi Haiti, an evangelistic missionary organisation, and her daughter, two weeks after they were seized at gunpoint. Alix Dorsainvil and her child were among around 540 people kidnapped in the country since January, by gangs who kill, rape and hold residents for ransom. The US State Department thanked partners for facilitating the release but gave no further details on on whether a ransom was paid. In the days following the kidnapping, El Roi Haiti, which was founded by the nurse’s husband, asked people to pray and greeted her release with “immense joy”.
Texas lawyers ordered to be trained by Christian legal group on religious discrimination
A judge in Texas has ordered three lawyers for Southwest Airlines to take classes in religious freedom from the conservative Christian campaign “Alliance Defending Freedom” (ADF), after they issued advice to its staff on religious discrimination. They were forced to respond when a flight attendant won a case of religious discrimination against the company, after she was fired for anti-abortion social media posts. The Texas court ordered the company to inform its other flight attendants that it wasn’t allowed to discriminate against them on the basis of religion. But Judge Brantley Starr, a Trump appointment, ruled that the words the lawyers chose did not comply with the order and told them to attend training sessions. The company is appealing. ADF is based in the USA but has branches in Europe. ADF-UK was in the news yesterday for defending a man silently praying outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth. Reuters reports that it has also been involved in cases on same sex marriage and restricting availability of the abortion pill, as well as involvement in the legal process to ban Roe vs Wade.
Man sought for mis-using $30 million donations for Christian evangelism in China
Federal prosecutors are seeking a man charged with mis-using more than $30 million donated by religious groups and individuals for sending Bibles and Christian literature into China. The Associated Press reports the man has been named as Jason Gerald Shenk, 45, formerly of Dublin, Georgia. He is charged with wire fraud, money laundering and failure to file a report of a foreign bank account. Much of the money came from communities in North Carolina and Ohio, including the Amish and Mennonite communities and was collected between 2010-2019. Prosecutors allege he used the money on his family farm, buying diamonds and precious metals, buying life insurance policies in various people’s names and online sports gambling. He is believed to be out of the country.
Scientists find the hint of a new force of nature
Scientists near Chicago have found evidence that “may hint at the existence of a new force of nature”. They found that muons, tiny subatomic particles, are disobeying the known laws of physics, wobbling more than they should. This contradicts “the standard model” of the four forces of nature: electricity and magnetism (electromagnetism), two nuclear forces and gravity. But this model does not explain dark matter or why galaxies are accelerating apart. BBC explainer here
