c. 2005 Religion News Service
Religious Conservatives Praise Bush Nominee
(RNS) The nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers on Monday (Oct. 3) to the U.S. Supreme Court sparked applause from Christian conservatives, while a church-state separation group called for Senate scrutiny.
Since 1980, Miers has been an active member and Sunday school teacher at Valley View Christian Church, a non-denominational evangelical congregation in Dallas, according to Ree Bradley, an administrative assistant at the church. Miers also served on the missions committee, responsible for allocating funds to the church’s evangelical ministries throughout the world.
Tom Minnery, vice president of public policy for the Colorado-based conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, said he hopes Miers will carry her religious convictions into the court if confirmed.
“We hope her faith will have an effect upon her decisions; we hope her Christian worldview gives her a moral framework in which to rule upon the cases before the Supreme Court,” Minnery said in an interview.
Minnery said he appreciated that Democrats did not make an issue in Senate hearings out of the personal faith of John Roberts, a Roman Catholic Bush nominee who was confirmed as chief justice. “We hope the Democrats will refrain again during the Miers hearings,” Minnery said.
Other conservative Christian groups also had praise.
“She is bright, thoughtful and a consummate professional and I enthusiastically endorse her nomination,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the Washington-based American Center for Law and Justice, in a statement.
Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, a Virginia-based evangelical Christian ministry, called Miers “a surprising, but inspiring choice” and a “woman of great integrity.”
But the Washington-based Concerned Women for America was more cautious.
“We give Harriet Miers the benefit of the doubt because thus far, President Bush has selected nominees to the federal courts who are committed to the written Constitution,” Jan LaRue, CWA’s chief counsel, said in a statement. “Whether we can support her will depend on what we learn from her record and the hearing process.”
The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said since Miers has never been a judge, Senate questioning will be crucial.
“It is imperative,” said Lynn, “that the judiciary committee uncover her judicial philosophy and her views on the relationship between religion and government.”
_ Jason Kane
Religion Newswriters Association Announces Contest Winners
(RNS) Journalists from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune garnered top prizes from the annual contests of the Religion Newswriters Association.
Winners were announced Saturday (Oct. 1) in Miami.
Tim Townsend of the St. Louis newspaper won the Templeton Religion Reporter of the Year Award, which recognizes versatility on the religion beat and excellence in enterprise reporting. Jeffrey Weiss of The Dallas Morning News came in second, followed by Michael Paulson of The Boston Globe in third place.
Cathleen Falsani of the Chicago Sun-Times was the winner of the Supple Religion Writer of the Year Award, which recognizes a reporter’s grasp of the range of issues on the beat and writing skill. Douglas Todd of The Vancouver Sun in British Columbia took second place, while Paulson of The Boston Globe came in third.
The Templeton Religion Story of the Year Award went to a team from the Chicago Tribune for a 12-part series on Islam. That honor, created two years ago, showcases a single story or series on religion in the print media. The second-place winner was Jane Hoback of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver and third place went to Rob Amen of the Valley News Dispatch in Tarentum, Pa.
Other winners were:
_ Cassels Reporter of the Year, for religion reporting at newspapers with circulations of 50,000 and below: Maya Kremen of the Herald News of West Patterson, N.J., first place; Marshall Allen of the Pasadena Star-News in California, second place; Gloria LaBounty of The Sun Chronicle in Attleboro, Mass., third place.
_ Cornell Reporter of the Year, for religion reporting at mid-sized newspapers: Jennifer Berry Hawes of The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., first place; Jean Gordon of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss., second place; Virginia de Leon of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash.
_ Schachern Award for best religion pages or sections, small paper category: The Mobile (Ala.) Register, first place; The Kalamazoo (Mich.) Gazette, second place; the Deseret Morning News of Salt Lake City, third place.
_ Schachern Award for best religion pages or sections, large paper category: The Houston Chronicle, first place; The Dallas Morning News; second place; The Salt Lake Tribune, third place.
_ Chandler Award for Student Religion Writer of the Year: David Crow of The Davidsonian, Davidson College in North Carolina, first place; Abram Handler of the Columbia Daily Spectator, Columbia University in New York, second place; Maggie Carlson, The Journal of Webster University in St. Louis, third place.
_ Adelle M. Banks
American Baptist Churches Communication Department to Close
(RNS) The communications department of the American Baptist Churches USA is shutting down as part of a reorganization of the denominational offices in Valley Forge, Pa.
Richard Schramm, who has acted as the spokesman for the 1.5 million-member denomination since 1996, will leave his position Oct. 31, along with an associate director and a media assistant in the office of communication.
The Rev. A. Roy Medley, general secretary of the denomination, said the restructuring comes at the recommendation of a consulting firm.
“In the new configuration, World Mission Support and Communication are being combined into one unit for maximum synergy and reinforcement of each other’s efforts,” Medley said. “This has resulted in a change of positions to maximize the use of electronic media/Web as our primary communications tool.”
Schramm has worked for the denomination since 1973 and became deputy general secretary for communication and the office director in 1996. He will continue to work part-time as a consultant to the denomination and plans to pursue other writing opportunities.
His departure comes at a time when his denomination has been torn over issues revolving around homosexuality and biblical authority, but he said in an interview that that was not a factor in his departure.
“It hasn’t always been easy to serve as director of communication for such a uniquely diverse and autonomous body of Christians,” Schramm said. “I don’t pretend to have any easy answers or any pointed wisdom applicable to my denomination at this critical time in its history. But what I do know is that we’re called to move forward in living out this faith, corporately as well as individually, assured that that yoke Christ graciously offers to share is ours for the asking.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
University Study to Examine Impact of Prayer on Couples
(RNS) Do couples that pray together really stay together?
Researchers at the University of Georgia will examine the effects of prayer on marital relationships in a three-year study set to begin this fall.
The $1.1 million study will involve 500 black couples from rural northeast Georgia, between the ages of 21 and 45, who are either married or have set a wedding date.
“Couples want to do right by each other. But they get pulled off track by lots of things,” said Dr. Steven Beach, director of the Institute for Behavioral Research at the Athens university.
By helping couples use relationship skills and demonstrate good intentions for each other, prayer could help keep relationships healthy, Beach hypothesizes.
Marriage in the black community has been traditionally understudied, Beach said. The Center for Family Research, a part of Beach’s institute that studies black families, inspired the study with its findings that “religiosity is protective” in the black community.
Separated into three groups, the couples will participate in a relationship workshop program. The first group will work through the program on their own, the second will take direction from a trained leader, and the third will be directed by a leader but will also incorporate a series of prayers into the program.
Researchers will investigate whether couples who pray for each other find their relationships improved in a way that doesn’t happen for those not using prayer.
A separate group from Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the former congregation of Martin Luther King Jr., will follow the same protocol as the third group, but will also pray for other couples. Results will be strongest in this group, Beach predicts.
“Intercessory prayer is something that has been underestimated in terms of its psychological impact,” he said.
Most couples will be from a Protestant Christian background, researchers said, but the workshop program could easily be adapted for participants of different faiths.
Beach acknowledged the often-contentious relationship between religion and science, and said he hopes that studies such as this will begin to address that divide.
“During the past 20 years, psychologists have developed conceptual tools that highlight the limitations of skills alone. This research may show that by adding prayers couples can begin to appreciate the importance of intentions,” he said, adding that researchers are not hypothesizing as to whether or not God answers prayers.
_ Nicole LaRosa
Quote of the Day: Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington
(RNS) “I look at these young boys who aren’t married yet; they’d be good priests. I was thinking Jack Roberts might be a candidate, but we might have to wait a few years.”
_ Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, joking about Jack Roberts, 4, the playful son of newly confirmed Chief Justice John Roberts. McCarrick was quoted by The Washington Times at the annual Red Mass, held Sunday (Oct. 2), a day before the Supreme Court began its session.
MO/PH END RNS
