Uzbekistan opens probe into U.S. aid

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP) – Uzbek authorities are investigating a private U.S. aid group after its office was shut down for publishing a book that government officials said distorted Islam.

The Tashkent prosecutor’s office said that the management of Winrock International will be investigated for unlicensed publishing activity.

Dozens of aid groups and several foreign media outlets have been forced out of the Central Asian nation, accused of various misdeeds ranging from illegal proselytizing to espionage.

In an Aug. 7 statement released by the prosecutor’s office, Aktam Jalilov, an expert of the government-backed Fund for Regional Politics, said “certain Western circles … are trying to turn newly independent (Central Asian) states into easily manageable puppet countries” through aid groups.

Widow pushes for Wiccan symbol

RENO, Nev. (AP) – The widow of a Nevada soldier is trying to win permission from federal officials to put a Wiccan religious emblem on his military memorial plaque.

Sgt. Patrick Stewart, 34, was killed last September his Nevada Army National Guard helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.

Since then, his wife, Roberta Stewart, has been trying to get a plaque with the Wiccan symbol for his headstone at the Northern Nevada Veterans’ Cemetery in Fernley, where she lives.

“They recognized my husband when they took him to war,” she said. “Our spirituality got us through Desert Storm, training missions, this war and it’s continuing to give me strength to fight for the love of my life.”

While the Wiccan movement encompasses diverse beliefs and practices, members see the Divine in nature and observe rituals attuned to seasonal transformations and phases of the moon.

Calif. Methodists settle sex abuse suit

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) – California United Methodists have agreed to pay a $6.7 million settlement to three men who said a former pastor sexually abused them three decades ago.

Gary Carson-Hull was a youth pastor at Los Altos United Methodist Church when the boys said they had been abused. Carson-Hull was dismissed after a parent of one of the boys complained in 1979.

Carson-Hull was arrested in 2002 after the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office charged him with molesting the boys dozens of times. The case was dismissed a year later because it fell outside the statute of limitation for prosecution.

The lawsuit was filed the next year when California lawmakers abolished the statutes of limitation on civil child sex abuse claims for just one year.

The groups who will share the cost of the payout are the Methodist California-Pacific Conference, based in Pasadena, the California-Nevada Conference based in West Sacramento, the Los Altos church and Walnut Creek United Methodist Church.

Carson-Hull had worked as a youth leader at Walnut Creek while attending the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley in the early 1970s. After completing seminary, he was hired at Los Altos.

Insurance will cover most of the cost, Methodist leaders said in announcing the agreement Aug 3.

Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, leader of the California-Pacific Conference, apologized for the pain the boys suffered and said Methodist churches have since put in place many safeguards to protect children.