c. 2006 Religion News Service
New York, Canadian Reporters Take Top Religion Writing Prizes
SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) Religion reporters from White Plains, N.Y., and the Canadian cities of Vancouver and Ottawa, earned the top prizes in the annual contests of the Religion Newswriters Association.
Winners were announced during the group’s annual conference here on Saturday (Sept. 9).
Gary Stern of The Journal News in White Plains, N.Y., won first place for the Templeton Religion Reporter of the Year Award, which recognizes versatility and excellence in enterprise reporting. Bruce Nolan of The Times-Picayune in New Orleans came in second, and James Davis of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel garnered third prize.
Douglas Todd of The Vancouver Sun was named the first-place winner of the Supple Religion Writer of the Year Award, which recognizes a reporter’s writing skill. Second place went to Jennifer Garza of The Sacramento Bee and third to Margaret Ramirez of the Chicago Tribune.
Robert Sibley of The Ottawa Citizen won first place in the Templeton Story of the Year Award, which highlights a single story or series on religion in print media. John Cochran of Congressional Quarterly and William Lobdell of the Los Angeles Times, came in second and third, respectively.
Other winners are as follows:
_ Cassels Reporter of the Year, for religion reporting at newspapers with circulations of 50,000 and below: Nicole Neroulias of the San Mateo County Times in California, first place; Daniel Burke of the Lancaster New Era in Pennsylvania (and now, Religion News Service), second place; Linda Andrade Rodrigues of The Standard-Times in New Bedford, Mass., third place.
_ Cornell Reporter of the Year for religion reporting at mid-sized newspapers: John Chadwick of The Record in Bergen County, N.J., first place; Brad Greenberg of The Sun/The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in Ontario, Calif.; second place; Jessica Ravitz of The Salt Lake Tribune, third place.
_ Schachern Award for best religion pages or sections, small paper category: The Record in Ontario, Canada, first place; The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., second place; The Huntsville Times in Alabama, third place.
_ Schachern Award for best religion pages or sections, large paper category: The Salt Lake Tribune, first place; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, second place; The Grand Rapids Press in Michigan, third place.
_ Chandler Award for for Student Writer of the Year: Roy Maurer of the Indiana Daily Student, Indiana University, first place; Laura Misjak of The State News, Michigan State University, second place; Malorie Lucich of Golden Gate Xpress, San Francisco State University, third place.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Democrats Have Less Favorable View of Faiths, Poll Shows
(RNS) A recent survey showed that most Americans think Republicans are more friendly than Democrats to religion. Apparently, the feeling is mutual, a new, separate Gallup poll has found.
While approximately 50 percent of Democrats and “Democratic leaners” hold positive opinions of Jews, Methodists, Baptists and Catholics, according to the survey, nearly 70 percent of Republicans said they felt sympathetic toward the same groups.
The divide between Republicans and Democrats was most striking in their evaluations of evangelical and “fundamentalist” Christians. While 63 percent of Republicans reported having positive opinions of evangelical Christians, just 31 percent of Democrats reported the same feelings. A third of Democrats held negative views of “fundamentalist Christians,” while 50 percent of Republicans held positive opinions of the group.
Members of the two political parties were united in their feelings toward Muslims _ where just 27 percent of both Republicans and Democrats reported positive opinions _ and Scientologists, where about 10 percent of each party said they harbor positive feelings about the group.
The survey, which was conducted Aug. 28-31 by The Gallup Poll, asked 1,001 randomly selected American adults their views on 10 religious groups. Those surveyed were asked whether they felt “very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative, or very negative,” about Jews, Methodists, Baptists, Catholics, Mormons, Muslims, atheists, evangelical Christians, “fundamentalist” Christians and Scientologists.
For results based on the total sample, the poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Only half the sample was asked about evangelical and “fundamentalist” Christians, so the margin or error is plus or minus 5 points for those results.
_ Daniel Burke
Interfaith Leaders Walk For Peace in Washington
WASHINGTON_ (RNS) They wore religious clothing of all types, but everyone, no matter what their faith, brought comfortable walking shoes.
Several hundred people on Sunday (Sept. 10) walked from a Jewish synagogue to the Gandhi Memorial statue, stopping at religious buildings along the way, for the second 9/11 Unity Walk. The walk brought together people of different religious faiths and ethnicities. Organizers counted 1,500 participants.
A Muslim imam began the walk by chanting the call to prayer inside of the Washington Hebrew Congregation, afterward translating the prayer line-by-line.
Rabbi Bruce Lustig, senior rabbi of the synagogue, stood next to Episcopal Bishop John Chane and Akbar Ahmed, a professor of Islamic studies at American University.
“I’m joined by my brothers in dialogue,” Lustig said, holding hands with the two men before setting off on the walk.
Chane said that more than mere conversation is necessary. “If there are no interlocking relationships, then dialogue is just dialogue,” he said.
The walkers stopped at the National Cathedral for a concert with one of the members from pop-group Sister Sledge to sing “We Are Family.” At the Vatican Embassy, the pope’s ambassador, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, and Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl spoke.
In front of a mosque along Embassy Row, the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for government affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, urged more interfaith communication _ something which he acknowledged has not always been present in evangelical Christianity.
Before continuing to the Gandhi Memorial, cantors from the synagogue sang a prayer for peace in Hebrew on the front steps of the mosque, afterward translating the words .
The walk was hosted by the Points of Light Foundation, along with the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, Religion for Peace USA and United Religions Initiative of Washington, D.C.
_ Kat Glass
Conservatives Protest as Khatami Speaks at National Cathedral
(RNS) Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami urged the West and East to engage in mutual dialogue during a talk at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday (Sept. 7).
Across the street, about 200 protesters _ including former political prisoners under Khatami’s government _ held up signs, blasted horns and shouted throughout the talk.
In his speech, Khatami described the different definitions of the human soul in East and West philosophies. He traced the West’s post-Renaissance transition to a rational civilization, and criticized the West for “being the greatest victim of over-reliance on reason.”
“The Orient, which by definition means guidance and orderliness, can engage in a historic dialogue with Europe and the United States, inviting them to moderation and tranquility,” Khatami said. “The time has come for the West to take a step forward and view itself from another angle.”
And the West can teach the East, he said.
“At the same time, the East needs to utilize the rationality and prudence of the West in its worldly affairs and must embark on the important path of development,” Khatami said.
The former president closed his speech by urging the two sides to “fairly and impartially re-evaluate and critique modernism and tradition and open the path to a better tomorrow, and to rescue life from the claws of warmongers and violence-seekers and ostentatious leaders.”
The National Cathedral was one stop during Khatami’s five-city U.S. tour, which also included visits to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Harvard University and the University of Virginia.
_ Kat Glass
Quote of the Day: Zoroastrian Priest Kersey H. Antia
(RNS) “Where are we now? Completely wiped out. It pains me to say, in 100 years we won’t have many Zoroastrians.”
_ Zoroastrian priest Kersey H. Antia, of Burr Ridge, Ill., lamenting his religion’s dwindling numbers. He was quoted by The New York Times (Sept. 6).
KRE/JL END RNS
