Where do the Labour leadership candidates stand on arms trade issues? Do they believe that the UK government should give financial and other support to arms exports? Would they act to redirect public funds from the promotion of arms exports to investment in renewable energy technologies? And how would they deal with private security companies? These were the questions that Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) directed to the five leadership contenders – Diane Abbott, Ed Balls, Andy Burnham, David Miliband and Ed Miliband.

To date, three of the five candidates have replied to CAAT's questions. Two candidates – Ed Balls and Ed Miliband – have yet to comment.

Diane Abbott stated that she opposed government support and subsidy for the arms trade; that UK Trade & Investment Defence & Security Organisation should be closed; that export credit cover should not be used for military goods and that private military and security companies should be licensed.

Andy Burnham had no firm views on the issues. On the question of UKTI DSO, he stated that the organisation should perform well for the taxpayer while posing no risk to to health and security at home and abroad. He would welcome questions on whether and how UKTI DSO should carry out its work. He said that he would welcome debate within the Labour Party on the other areas brought forward by CAAT.

The leading contender, David Miliband did not answer CAAT's specific questions. His policy team sent a four-paragraph statement which focused on Mr Miliband's work as Foreign Secretary in the Brown government. It stated his continued support for the proposed Arms Trade Treaty and for the new Cluster Munition Ban. It also reiterated his support for continuing multinational nuclear disarmament.

As Foreign Secretary, David Miliband decided not to regulate the private security industry, despite calls to do so from the industry association and from NGOs. Media reports state that his leadership campaign received a donation from lobbyist Anthony Bailey, whose clients include arms company BAE Systems.

Sarah Waldron, CAAT's Core Campaign Co-ordinator, said: "All the candidates for the Labour Party leadership have stated that they want to see the best economic and social outcomes for Britain, yet most seem willing to ignore the vital ethical, security and economic issues around the arms trade."

She continued, "David Miliband's statement focuses on issues around the Arms Trade Treaty, which will not affect UK arms exports, and ignores the questions posed by CAAT. Andy Burnham is non-committal on all areas. Diane Abbott is the only candidate to respond and pledge an end to government support and subsidy for arms exports."

Read the candidates' full responses here http://www.caat.org.uk/resources/lab-cand.php

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Catholic campaigners seeking reform within their Church have published six questions for the Pope to consider during his visit to the UK next week.

They include questions on the “present over-centralised Church structure” and the lack of accountability highlighted by the child abuse crisis. There are also questions on women's ordination, sexuality, priestly celibacy and the Church's new English-language liturgy.

Catholic Voices for Reform, an umbrella organisation for pro-reform groups, delivered the questions yesterday (7 September) to Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales. They asked him to pass them to the pope during his trip.

Benedict XVI will visit Glasgow, London and Birmingham during his state visit to the UK from 16 – 19 September.

Speaking at a press conference prior to handing in the questions, Simon Bryden-Brook of Catholics for a Changing Church urged the Pope to listen more carefully to his flock. He said, “A pope who does not listen to the sheep is not doing his job properly”. Pat Brown of Catholic Women's Ordination (CWO) added, “If the institution doesn't start listening, I really don't see a future for it”.

Bernard Wynne of the group Stand up for Vatican II added, “Lay people are denied a role in the central government of the Church. They're also denied a role in the diocesan and sometimes the parish government of the Church.” Bryden-Brook criticised a system that allowed power to be concentrated in “one person and his cronies”.

Bryden-Brook described the requirement for priests to be celibate as "incredibly damaging" and pointed out that it appears to be waived when it comes to Anglican clergy converting to Rome. He emphasised that "we do not denigrate celibacy for those priests who wish to adopt it,” but argued that it should not be compulsory.

Empowering the laity is a central theme of the reformers' agenda. Valerie Stroud of the group We Are Church bemoaned the lack of adult education in the Roman Catholic Church and suggested that there is a “vast swathe of Catholics who've never learnt any more about their faith than what they learnt when they were seven years old”.

Asked if they were abandoning church teaching in favour of secular notions of human rights, Bryden-Brook insisted that Christianity is about the incarnation and “God being revealed in humanity”. He said that such Christian teaching fitted naturally with a commitment to human rights.

Brown was challenged on the level of support for the ordination of women. She insisted that it is not only a western concern and that she has worked with Catholics from various parts of the global south calling for women's ordination. She admitted that CWO could not give a precise membership figure because of the fluid nature of its membership, but Wynne said that they would welcome an independent opinion poll to measure support.

The panel were asked by Ekklesia's reporter if they also wished to see change in the Vatican's approach to economic justice, given the current Pope's campaign against liberation theology in his previous role as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Wynne admitted that, “The Church was very peremptory in the way it handled liberation theology” but argued that “compared to many governments”, the Church's position on social justice has been “pretty good”.

The groups that make up Catholic Voices for Reform are keen to emphasise that Catholic opinion is much broader than the views promoted by the Vatican. Bryden-Brook yesterday encouraged grassroots Catholics to take the initiative, insisting that, “change at the top will only come from pressure from below”.

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A report released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has warned that at least 34 Colombian tribes face extinction due to continuing violence on their lands.

The report found that, “In spite of new efforts by the state… the risk of physical or cultural disappearance remains, and in some cases has risen”.

An increase in murders, death threats, and the forced recruitment of indigenous youth into armed groups are just some of the dangers reportedly facing Colombia’s Indians.

Internal displacement is also cited as a major issue that disproportionately affects Colombia’s tribal peoples. Of the country’s four million internal refugees, Indians make up 15 per cent of the total, despite the fact that they represent just two per cent of the national population.

Just two weeks before the report was released, leader Luis Socarrás Pimienta of the Wayúu tribe was shot dead by an alleged paramilitary outside his home in the northern Colombian province of la Guajira.

According to the report, murders of indigenous Colombians rose by 63 per cent between 2008 and 2009, and 33 members of Colombia’s Awa tribe were killed in 2009 alone.

The Awa are mentioned alongside one of the Amazon’s last nomadic tribes, the Nukak, as requiring “special attention”. More than half of the Nukak have been wiped out since the arrival of coca-growing colonists on their land. The Nukak are said to be trapped in a cruel limbo between oppressive refugee shelters on the outskirts of a town and the violence-stricken forest.

An earlier UN report cites a suspected programme of “ethnic cleansing” in the country to make way for illicit crops or “to establish large-scale agro-business ventures, including palm oil plantations and beef cattle production”.

“We can move around less and less, even to hunt or collect food,” said a leader of the recently displaced Wounaan tribe, who blames the presence of armed groups and heightened violence on an influx of coca cultivation in Wounaan territory.

“Colombia’s former President lays claim to his successful campaign against violence, yet this report has again illustrated the country’s abysmal record of human rights abuses against its indigenous population,” said Stephen Corry of Survival International yesterday (7 September).

He added, “Juan Manuel Santos’ new government must act once and for all to protect its most vulnerable citizens from being wiped out, before it’s too late”.

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Three Catholic peace activists who were arrested after cutting through the fence at a nuclear base say that they were “inspired by the message of Jesus”.

The three, who include a priest, entered the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston, England and put up a sign declaring “Open for Disarmament: All Welcome”.

The incident follows UK government plans to build a new multi-million pound nuclear testing facility at the Aldermaston site. One of the gates of the establishment was blocked on Monday (6 September) by around twenty members and supporters of Trident Ploughshares who disrupted access to the site during the morning rush hour.

The three Catholics have all been arrested in the past for nonviolent direct action. They include Father Martin Newell, 43, a Passionist priest from London Catholic Worker. The others are Susan Clarkson, 63, of Oxford Catholic Worker and Chris Cole, 47, also from Oxford.

They said that they were at Aldermaston to open “a new gateway into this tightly guarded factory of death”.

In a statement issued shortly after they entered the base, they declared, “We come inspired by the message of Jesus to love our enemies, to be peacemakers and to live and act nonviolently at all times”.

The activists pointed out that this week marks the thirtieth anniversary of the first act of direct nuclear disarmament, the “Ploughshares 8”. They said that their action was inspired by the same “spirit of disarmament”.

They added, “We believe that AWE Aldermaston and its extensive and expensive new development programme needs to be exposed for what it is: a factory for the creation of weapons of mass destruction which have the power to destroy this beautiful world, given to us by God, our loving creator, to care and tend”.

In addition to Newell, Clarkson and Cole, three of the Trident Ploughshares activists were also arrested for their role in blocking one of the establishment's gates.

Trident Ploughshares are drawing attention to the ongoing £1 billion-a-year modernisation programme at Aldermaston, which includes the Orion laser, an enriched uranium handling facility and three new supercomputers.

The campaigners say this will enable the UK government to develop a new generation of nuclear warheads, circumventing obligations under the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and undermining its disarmament commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. They are also concerned about the health and safety and environmental implications of the new developments, particularly in light of the lack of public disclosure.

Ann Kobayashi, a Trident Ploughshares activist and retired social worker from Wickford, Essex, said, “We don’t need new nuclear weapons, but we do need the skills and knowledge of the AWE workforce to address the significant challenges of decommissioning existing nuclear weapons and nuclear waste disposal, which will affect future generations”.

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Eight hundred colourful miniature figures of the 16th-century Protestant Reformer Martin Luther on display in the central market square of Wittenberg, where he lived and worked, are causing offence - writes Anli Serfontein from Trier, Germany.

Visitors have been walking around the market place between the black, green, red and blue figures, picking them up and placing them in other parts of the town.

This art show has, however, been heavily criticised by prominent theologians such as Friedrich Schorlemmer from Wittenberg, who played a prominent role in the peaceful protests that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall more than 20 years ago.

Schorlemmer told the Leipziger Volkszeitung, a newspaper in eastern Germany, in August, "This is theological and aesthetic rubbish. Martin Luther cannot be mass produced."

The installation by German artist Ottmar Hörl is part of the Luther Decade celebrations commemorating the period between Luther's arrival in Wittenberg in 1508 and the beginning of the Reformation in 1517.

Schorlemmer called the fact that the figures will later be sold for 250 euros each a "tasteless trade off with plastic figures."

Petra Bahr, the culture representative of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the umbrella organisation for Germany's Protestants, told the epd news agency, "I understand his criticism but I find the reaction humourless."

The chairperson of Wittenberg's Cranach Foundation, Eva Löber, also condemned the installation of the figures. "No one will discover what was Luther's message," she told the Leipziger Volkszeitung, a daily newspaper in the region.

On the other hand the EKD representative for the Luther Decade in Wittenberg, Stephan Dorgerloh, praised the art. "With the installation Martin Luther is also present without a monument and Hörl's modern art leads us, at the same time, in the 21st century," he told the Leipziger Volkszeitung.

The Luther figures, which are each about one metre (39 inches) in height, are based on an 1821 statue of Luther that normally stands on the Wittenberg market but is currently being restored. The installation is on display until 12 September 2010.

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches.]

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Pope Benedict, who rigorously opposes the ordained ministry of women, will meet the President of the Methodist Conference, the Rev Alison Tomlin, on his UK visit.

Ms Tomlin will travel to Edinburgh on Thursday 16 September 2010 for the pontiff's arrival and Official State Greeting by the Queen at Holyrood Palace.

On Friday, she will be presented to Pope Benedict at Westminster Abbey in London, where Church leaders will join the Archbishop of Canterbury in a celebration of Evening Prayer.

Ms Tomlin commented: “It’s great for the whole Church that Pope Benedict is coming to the UK. It’s really important that the different parts of the Church talk to each other and I am glad other Church leaders have been invited to meet him."

She continued: “Because of my work in spirituality, I meet with a lot of Catholics involved with Ignatian Spirituality, particularly Jesuit priests. The Catholic Church has been more ecumenically engaged in this country than in other countries. It would be good if we could build on that.

“I think it’s important for Methodism that we have been invited to meet The Pope. I do see it as an acknowledgement of the Methodist Church in Britain.”

The official position of the Catholic Church is that Free Church ministry has no priestly status and that Anglican orders, including those of its most senior representatives, are "utterly null and void".

Campaigners for Catholic Women's Ordination have ensured that the Pope's London itinerary will be marked by adverts on London buses encouraging him to admit women to the priesthood.

The Methodist Church is one of the largest Christian churches in Britain, with nearly 265,000 members and regular contact with over 800,000 people. It has around 5,800 local churches.

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The Presbyterian Church of Wales has reiterated its support to further powers for the Welsh Assembly.

In the Church’s annual General Assembly in Lampeter, representatives voted in favour of raising awareness of the upcoming referendum among 30,000 church members and to encourage them to vote in favour of legislative powers.

Days after the Electoral Commission said that the proposed referendum question should be re-worded, the Assembly agreed that the question should be clear and robust “so that people will feel engaged in a significant democratic step affecting the government of Wales and the lives of ordinary people.”

The Presbyterian Church of Wales has been a leading light in the pro-devolution campaign for many years.

“The Presbyterian Church of Wales is a Welsh institution with churches all over Wales and a significant role in Welsh history,” said Mervyn Phillips, Chairman of the Church’s Church and Society Department.

“We’ve spoken out in favour of devolved powers for a long time because it’s important that there is political recognition of Welsh identity, community and history. We’re part of the community and we’re concerned for the sense identity of that community. Having the functions of government nearer to the people is a vital step forward.”

The Presbyterian Church of Wales has around 30,000 members in more than 700 churches, as well as strong links with churches abroad.

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Three major Free Churches have launched a video campaign asking people what they would say if they had just one minute to speak with the Prime Minister David Cameron and the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

The initiative has been launched by the Methodist Church, the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the United Reformed Church

The 'My Minute' campaign aims to give people a voice in politics and encourage engagement in public issues, say the three non-conformist Christian denominations.

Participants can communicate their message to camera however they choose – speaking, rapping, singing, praying, miming, dancing or holding up pictures or signs.

The churches are asking people to email the link to their video as soon as they have uploaded it to a video sharing site, such as YouTube or Vimeo. Videos will then be featured on the 'My Minute' website.

The Rev Dr Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the Methodist Church, commented: “Politics isn’t just for the politicians; it shouldn’t become a closed realm accessible only to the few. Like the Church, politics should be open to everyone. 'My Minute' is about enabling people’s voices to be heard.”

Human rights activist Peter Tatchell and the award-winning broadcaster and Christian environmental campaigner, Mark Dowd, are among those who have already filmed their 'My Minute' videos.

“2010 so far is the hottest year on record in terms of planetary temperatures,” declared Dowd, Director of Education and Communications at Operation Noah. “This is not a time to make cuts.”

The Rev Dr Kirsty Thorpe, Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church, added: “My Minute is a great way for those of us in the Churches to show we're in touch with the major issues facing people in today's world. Jesus always helped powerless people to discover their voice - let's follow his example and speak out - especially on behalf of people whose needs may not otherwise be noticed by our political leaders.”

People are being encouraged to tell others about their 'My Minute' video via Facebook, Twitter, blogging, and other social networking sites. People can also check out the latest videos by following @myminute2010 on Twitter or using the #myminute hashtag.

The three denominations say they will be contacting Number 10 Downing Street to let the Prime Minister and his Deputy know what people want to say to them.

The Rev Jonathan Edwards, General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, said the exercise was all about participation, rather than sitting on the sidelines.

“Our hope is that the passionate convictions of many will find expression through this campaign, and that key messages and concerns will find a response within Government,” he said.

The campaign has not just been aimed at Christians. It is open to people of all faiths and none.

The 'My Minute' website can be visited at: http://www.jointpublicissues.org.uk/myminute/

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Human Rights Watch says the Zambian government needs to call an immediate halt to police abuse of detainees, investigate violations and strengthen grievance mechanisms.

Hanging suspects from the ceiling and beating them to coerce confessions is routine practice for the country's police force, says the NGO.

Rona Peligal, Africa director at Human Rights Watch in New York claims that Zambian police routinely engage in cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, including torture, to extract confessions.

Along with the Prisons Care and Counselling Association, and the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa, HRW interviewed prisoners at six prisons throughout Zambia's central corridor during a recent investigation.

The prisoners described to monitors what happened to them in police custody, before they were transferred to custody.

Dozens of detainees said they had been beaten with metal bars, hammers, broom handles, police batons, sticks, or even electrified rods. Many said they had been bound first and hung upside down. Female detainees reported that police officers tried to coerce sex in exchange for their release.

The government needs to call an immediate halt to police abuse, investigate violations, and strengthen grievance mechanisms," Rona Peligal.

The reports of physical abuse of men, women, and children held in police custody indicate a widespread and systematic pattern of brutality, in some cases rising to the level of torture, Human Rights Watch has declared.

Several former police detainees still bore the scars from the abuse at the time of their interviews; many reported suffering serious long-term health consequences. Inmates showed researchers their misshapen fingers - a result of being smashed by hammers and iron bats - and scars on their feet and hands resulting from beatings with police batons.

Two inmates had lost their vision as a result of blows to the head, while others complained of chronic pain and swelling resulting from repeated beatings to their legs without subsequent medical treatment.

The revelations came as part of research into the health conditions in six Zambian prisons, between September 2009 and February 2010.

Human Rights Watch said this week that it presented its findings and concerns in letters to the minister of home affairs and the inspector general of police in June and August 2010, but received no response.

More on Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org/

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Of the nearly 20 million people affected by the floods in Pakistan, some 85 per cent are women and children, and around 500,000 are pregnant women, says the international relief agency CARE .

During assessment visits to flood-affected regions in Pakistan, the NGO's staff have observed that many pregnant women are still living without proper shelter, supplies and food.

Flood waters have damaged or destroyed more than 200 hospitals and clinics, and in some areas, female doctors and other staff are not available to provide health services to pregnant women.

With limited or no access to health facilities, women are at a greater risk of complications and death related to pregnancy and childbirth.

There is an urgent need for clean drinking water and additional nutritious food for mothers who are breastfeeding, says CARE. To help meet the specific needs of pregnant women, new mothers and children, agencies are distributing water purification tablets to provide clean water, particularly for pregnant women and children who are particularly susceptible to water-borne illness such as diarrhoea.

Mobile health teams are providing primary health care and antenatal care to pregnant women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, South Punjab and Sind. Pregnant women are also being vaccinated against tetanus.

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The National Council of Churches USA has reiterated its condemnation of plans by a Florida church to burn the Qur’an on the 11 September anniversary of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York.

On the eve of Ramadan, the NCCUSA and its Interfaith Relations Commission called upon Christians and persons of other faiths to express respect for Muslims and Islam.

The original August 11 statement, which expressed dismay over recent outbreaks of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiments, said, in part: “We also decry the anti-Muslim actions and plans of many church leaders and members, such as those of the Dove World Outreach Center in the USA. Misguided or confused about the love of neighbour by which Christ calls us to live, leaders and members of this church and others are engaged in harassment of Muslims, and in the planning of an ‘International Burn the Qur’an Day,’ to be held on September 11th. Such open acts of hatred are not a witness to Christian faith, but a grave trespass against the ninth commandment, a bearing of false witness against our neighbour. They contradict the ministry of Christ and the witness of the church in the world.”

It continued: “We ask all Christians to promote respect and love of neighbour, and to speak and work against extremist ideas, working with Muslims as appropriate, in order to live out the commandment to love our neighbour, and to promote peace.”

The Rev Dr Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, said the council had chosen to repeat its statement in response to “many requests from persons of good will who wish to make it abundantly clear to the international community that millions of Americans reject the anti-Muslim expressions of some communities who seem to be reacting out of fear and a misunderstanding of the true nature of Islam.”

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A group of peace campaigners have said that they were planning to attempt a citizen’s arrest of Tony Blair at his book signing in London on Wednesday (8 September), which has now been cancelled.

Symon Hill, Chris Wood, Anna Clark and Kathleen Bright said that they had been planning to join the queue at the book signing. On arriving at the front, they would have told the former Prime Minister, "This is a citizen’s arrest for crimes against peace".

They described themselves as an informal group acting as concerned citizens, committed to nonviolence. Some of the group cite Christian faith as their motivation.

Blair had been planning to sign copies of his memoir, A Journey, in Waterstone's bookshop in Piccadilly, London. But this afternoon (6 September), he announced the cancellation of the event, following the scale of protests at his earlier book signing in Dublin.

Blair referred to fears of violence, but campaigners insist they were planning peaceful protest.

“Tony Blair’s role in the destruction and devastation in Iraq has made him so unpopular that he seems afraid to meet the public," said Symon Hill, "The vast majority of protesters at the book signing would have been peaceful".

The campaigners pointed out that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has told Parliament that the invasion of Iraq was illegal, but no charges have been brought.

Hill added, "As Christians, we are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who frequently challenged the abuse of power and took direct action when he confronted the moneychangers in the Jerusalem Temple".

When Blair signed copies of his book in Dublin on Saturday (4 September), one customer, Kate O'Sullivan, attempted to make a citizen's arrest when she reached the front of the queue. She was removed from the building by security personnel.

As UK Prime Minister in 2003, Tony Blair launched an invasion of Iraq along with US President George Bush. Critics point out that no approval was given by the United Nations. Claims that the Iraqi regime owned weapons of mass destruction were found to be inaccurate.

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The General Secretary of the World Council of Churches has been presented with the Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre by Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem.

The Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit was visiting Jerusalem as part of a WCC delegation meeting with members of the WCC member churches in the region, as well as with Jewish and Muslim leaders.

The Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre is an honour awarded by the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem and the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. The name refers to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, built over the traditional site of Jesus’ tomb.

"Because of the Patriarchate's role and witness, we fully endorse the work of the World Council of Churches and of your office, especially in the struggle for peace, justice and reconciliation," Patriarch Theophilos said in a ceremony held at the offices of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.

"The Patriarchate of Jerusalem is especially keen to assist you in your concern for lasting peace in the Middle East, for the well-being of all the people of the region, and for the ongoing presence of Christians in the Holy Land," he said.

Patriarch Theophilos assured Tveit of the ongoing support of the Orthodox Church for the WCC, saying the ecumenical movement is called to promote "unity without confusion" among churches.

Shortly before placing the cross around Tveit's neck, the patriarch uttered this blessing: "May this cross be a reminder to you of the daily death and resurrection that is the vocation of every Christian believer, and of the way of the cross that leads to the triumph of new life."

"I receive this cross with humility and accept it as an honour intended for the World Council of Churches and our common efforts toward Christian unity," Tveit said. "The ecumenical movement is a movement of the cross, and this reminds me in a very clear way how the cross unites us in our faith and ministry."

"May we carry the cross together, and may there be hope for the peace of Jerusalem in these days," Tveit concluded.

More on the WCC: http://www.oikoumene.org/

As the row continues over an Islamic cultural centre to be sited near to Ground Zero in New York, the first US Muslim college has opened in California.

Joanna Corman writes for ENI/RNS: The Brooklyn native is part of the inaugural class of what Zaytuna's founders hope will be the country's first accredited, four-year Muslim liberal arts college - a flagship of higher learning with an Islamic identity yet open to all faiths, Religion News Service reports.

Faatimah Knight's college decision came down to eight schools where she would have majored in English, or Zaytuna College, where she could study Islamic classical teachings in an environment that embraces all aspects of her Muslim faith.

Knight, 18, chose Zaytuna, she said, because she wants to grow in her faith, learn more about the religion that inspired her parents to convert from Christianity and be able to defend Islam during a time of stepped-up suspicion.

"I want to feel like I'm improving as a person. I want to feel like I'm improving in terms of my character," said Knight. "I'm almost positive that I can only get that here."

An aspiring writer, Knight is one of 15 Zaytuna students who started classes on 24 August.

Zaytuna College grew out of a pilot seminary programme at the Zaytuna Institute, which graduated a handful of students in 2008. Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, an American-born convert from the San Francisco Bay Area who studied Islam abroad, started the institute in 1996, offering continuing education classes in Arabic and Islamic studies.

Yusuf began planning Zaytuna's transition to a full-fledged college two years ago with two colleagues: Imam Zaid Shakir, a Berkeley convert who studied Islam abroad; and Hatem Bazian, a professor at the University of California Berkeley and a Palestinian native who has lived in the Bay Area for nearly 27 years.

The three are among the best-known and most-respected Muslim scholars in America, said Zahra Billoo, the programmes and outreach director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations' San Francisco Bay Area chapter.

The college will seek accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and founders hope to graduate students who can work in any profession, including serving the Muslim American community as imams, non-profit managers and Islamic school teachers.

Co-founder Bazian said the college is needed because of a lack of native-born Muslim professionals with a strong understanding of their faith and the needs of US Muslims.

"We feel the college is very important in that it provides grounding for the community in its own tradition - not in a sense to create a difference with the larger society, but to actually normalise its presence within the larger society, that there is no contradiction between being an American and being Muslim," Bazian said.

While Muslims have been in the United States for centuries, most migrated here within the last 40 years, with 80 per cent of US Muslims arriving after 1980, said Farid Senzai, a member of Zaytuna's management committee and the research director at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a Michigan-based think tank focused on US Muslims.

Over several generations, Muslim Americans have built an infrastructure of mosques, schools and advocacy organisations. Now, with a population estimated to range from 2 million to as many as 8 million, and growing financial stability, they are beginning to build academic institutions, Senzai said, just as Roman Catholics and Jews did generations ago.

The college could help bridge the gap between different segments of the community, such as immigrants and native-born Muslims, said CAIR's Billoo. It could also provide ranks of home grown imams to lead the country's estimated 2000 mosques instead of foreign-born leaders who sometimes face cultural, language and generational gaps.

Zaytuna is offering two majors to start: Arabic language, and Islamic law and theology. There are plans to add advanced degrees, adult education classes and professional certificate programmes in areas such as Islamic medical ethics, Islamic finance and religious training for imams and undergraduates.

Zaytuna, which means "olive tree" in Arabic, also hopes to be a vehicle for interfaith dialogue. The college was intentionally planted in progressive Berkeley, an intellectual hub with a sizable Muslim community. The college will be housed at the American Baptist Seminary of the West for five years until founders can establish its own campus.

The college can help promote cross-cultural understanding, when visitors "see it in action", said Senzai, who also teaches political science at Santa Clara University.

"In fact, these kinds of institutions in the long term are absolutely necessary for bridging the divide that currently exists and the misunderstanding that many have about Islam and Muslims," he said.

With acknowledgments to ENI - www.eni.ch