Coretta Scott King, who died today at the age of 78, was “a woman of faith and devotion,” writes Adelle M. Banks: Coretta Scott King, who died Tuesday (Jan. 31), held firmly to her faith as one of the nation’s most famous pastors’ wives before becoming a civil rights leader in her own right after the death of her husband. Leaders with connections to the King family and the civil rights movement recalled how the 78-year-old widow of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. blended a commitment to her marriage with a determination to achieve justice for others. Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, said he asked her how she handled having a husband who was away so often, working on movement causes. “She said, `Let me tell you something, I did not just marry a man. I married a destiny,'” he recalled.
Jeff Diamant’s analysis of the Alito nomination notes that the new Supreme Court justice may swing the court right on religion and cultural issues: With the confirmation of Samuel Alito Jr., the Supreme Court gets a justice labeled a “judicial conservative,” a “strict constructionist,” a “traditionalist” and maybe a few other “-ists” that make him a conservative’s dream for the highest court in the land. The Senate voted 58-42 Tuesday (Jan. 31) to confirm Alito after hearings that may be most remembered for intense questioning that often failed to extract controversial answers. Still, Alito’s decisions and memos as a federal appellate judge, an U.S. attorney and a lawyer for the Reagan administration indicate he could move the divided high court to the right-especially on high-profile religious and cultural issues for which Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor-whom he replaces-often issued decisive “swing votes” that angered conservatives.
NPR listeners may have noticed a new program on Sunday mornings called “Sacred Classics.” Nicole LaRosa writes: “Here is music based on Mary’s song of praise to God: The Magnificat,” says Stephanie Wendt‘s smooth, crisp voice from the radio. “`He has put down the mighty from their seat,’ says Mary, `and has exalted the humble and meek.'” Ethereal voices fill the airwaves. They rise and fall in a rich melody written by Flemish Renaissance composer Nicolas Gombert, and, thanks to Wendt, in some context. Wendt is the host of “Sacred Classics,” a choral music program that National Public Radio began offering to its affiliate stations Jan. 1. Sunday morning listeners can now revel in haunting motets and cantatas that span the centuries, and learn a little something about what inspired them.
