RELIGION BRIEFING

Saturday, December 8, 2007

ISLAMIC COUNCIL

Fatwa Again Condemns Terrorism

A scholarly panel that advises North American Muslims on Islamic law has issued another edict condemning terrorism in the name of Islam.

The Fiqh Council of North America issued the fatwa as part of an interfaith peace-building effort with Christian and Jewish leaders called Bridges to Common Ground.

"This condemnation of violence is deeply rooted in true Islamic values based on the Quranic instructions which consider the unjust killing of a single person equivalent to the killing of all humanity," the panel said. "There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism."

The council issued a similar edict two years ago.

-- Associated Press

RECOGNITION PROJECT

Bosnians Who Aided Jews Sought

Leaders of Bosnia's Jewish community have appealed for help locating Bosnians who aided Jews during World War II and have not been recognized.

The search aims to document their stories. The effort is part of a broader project to record the lives of Bosnia's Muslim and Jewish communities over the centuries.

"This project is extremely important nowadays when Bosnia is full of negative examples of who hates whom. It sends a message of coexistence, and we want to show to all peoples in Bosnia that the life of one nation with another is sacred and has to be preserved," said Muhamed Mesic of Bosnia's Institute for the Research of Crimes Against Humanity, which is involved in the project.

-- Associated Press

POLITICS

Election-Year Guide for Lutherans

The nation's largest Lutheran denomination has issued election-year guidelines and outlined seven issues, from hunger to health care, that reflect the church's social justice concerns.

The guide, "Called to Be a Public Church," from the 5 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, suggests ways for churches to participate in the political process without endangering their tax-exempt status.

"This church understands government as a means through which God can work to preserve creation and build a more peaceful and just social order in a sinful world," Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson wrote in introducing the 76-page document.

The document notes that "all of the suggested activities . . . are nonpartisan and do not encourage the promotion of any one party or candidate for public office."

The guide suggests that churches participate in poll monitoring or candidate forums. It says direct contributions, endorsements and get-out-the-vote efforts with particular candidates or parties are prohibited.

The document also offers background materials from the denomination's Washington office on domestic hunger, housing, health care, global poverty and hunger, global warming, immigration and peace.

-- Religion News Service

CHRISTIAN MUSIC

Songwriters Uniting for Charity

Some of Christian music's top songwriters plan to collectively write 10 to 12 songs and donate the copyrights to charity.

Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Paul Baloche and Darlene Zschech are among the artists who will gather for a songwriting retreat next month in Scotland. Martin Smith, lead singer for the Christian band Delirious, is organizing the project.

Half of each song's proceeds will go to the songwriter's charity of choice and the other half to a yet-to-be-determined charitable program agreed on by all the writers. The copyright holder will be Compassionart, an organization that Smith created as a conduit to the charities.

-- Associated Press