Contact: Debra Mason
DebraMason@RNA.org
573-882-9257

COLUMBIA, MO. (August 10, 2010)— “The Office” star Rainn Wilson and “Bowling Alone” author Robert Putnam are among the speakers confirmed for the 61st RNA Annual Conference, to be held Sept. 23–25 at the Westin Tabor Center in Denver, Colo.

Each year, RELIGION | NEWSWRITERS  brings together the nation’s best religion reporters and leading religious scholars to explore what’s happening in religion around the world, how to incorporate new technology into religion reporting, and best practices for covering faith. About 150 journalists and speakers are expected.

Panelists this year include Wilson, discussing faith in the celebrity’s life. Putnam and a colleague will share the results of a four-year study focused on faith’s role in maintaining society’s sense of community. In preparation for this fall’s election coverage, biblical literalist Wayne Grudem, of Phoenix Seminary, will discuss how politicians use and misuse the Bible.

Additional panelists include Reporter Abe Levy, of the San Antonio Express-News, and Mike Ebert, of the North American Mission Board, who will discuss coverage of  missions gone wrong, as in the case of attempted adoptions after last year’s earthquake in Haiti. The New York Times’s Laurie Goodstein and other journalists will share challenges when investigating religion. And a panel of journalists from The Huffington Post, Beliefnet and CNN will talk about the online audience for religion news.

The conference closes with an awards banquet where RNA will announce winners in its eight contests. RNA will also honor longtime religion reporter Gustav Niebuhr with the William A. Reed Lifetime Achievement Award during the banquet.

Registration information and the complete schedule can be found here.

RELIGION | NEWSWRITERS is the world’s only association for journalists who write about religion in the general circulation news media. We strive to promote excellence in media coverage by creating tools and training, including: RELIGION | LINK story ideas and sources; a religion stylebook, primer and frequently asked questions about the religion beat.  For more information or how to join RNA, see www.RNA.org.

Website: www.911christiancenter.com

WorldNetDaily article:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=178033

DNAinfo article:
www.dnainfo.com/20100713/manhattan/christian-evangelical-center-plans-compete-with-ground-zero-mosque

Charisma article:
http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/news/28885-christian-center-to-open-near-proposed-ground-zero-mosque

August 16, 2010—St Petersburg, Fla. Bill Keller, leader of the world’s largest interactive Christian website for 11 years, Liveprayer.com, has harshly criticized President Obama’s endorsement of the “ground zero victory mosque,” while refusing to acknowledge the opening of his new 9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero. Keller states, “This President has endorsed a memorial being built by Muslims to their greatest military victory in the 1400 years of Islam, 9/11/2001, yet we have sent numerous correspondence to the White House asking for him to bless our new 9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero.”

Keller goes on, “This is a President who refused to hold any services in the White House for the National Day of Prayer, or any other Christian holiday, yet holds a dinner to commemorate Ramadan? But why would anyone be surprised. After all, the Obama administration is paying for the “ground zero victory mosque” Imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, to go to the Middle East on the US taxpayers dime to raise the $110 million he needs for his “victory mosque!”

On Sunday, September 5th, Keller will open this September the 9-11 Christian Center at Ground Zero as a Christian response to the mosque the Muslims are building just blocks away. Keller said that rather than hold a protest that people will forget an hour after it is over, he wanted to take an ongoing stand against this new mosque in a bold, visible, and meaningful way.

Keller stated that he sees this as an incredible opportunity to take a stand for Christ within a block of the hallowed ground where the World Trade Center Towers once stood, and give people a place where they can come to pray and find true peace and hope at a time when so many lives are in turmoil.

Keller is no stranger to conflict with Islam. In 2007, under pressure from the extremist Muslim group CAIR, Keller’s highly rated nightly TV program that ran for 4 1/2 years on a CBS owned station in Tampa, Florida, was canceled by CBS because he refused to stop telling his viewers that “according to the Bible Islam is a 1400-year-old lie from hell, and that history clearly shows Mohammed was a murdering pedophile who propagated his false religion through hatred, violence, and death.”

Keller also has numerous fatwas (sentences of death) issued against him for a video he sent in 2006 to Osama Bin Laden that was played worldwide in which Keller encouraged Bin Laden to “renounce the lies of Islam” and come to faith in Jesus Christ.

In asking Keller about what he hopes to accomplish with the new 9-11 Christian Center, he said, “If the Muslims can without conscience build a mosque to propagate their religion of violence and hated a block away from where their Muslim brothers perpetrated the greatest act of terror on US soil, killing 3,000 innocent souls in the process, we can open a place where people can come to hear the truth of the Bible and learn about the peace, love, and saving grace of Jesus Christ”

Keller’s 9-11 Christian Center will begin holding services Sunday, September 5th in the ballroom of the New York Marriott through the end of the year. They will move into their permanent facility on January 1st.

About LivePrayer:
In August, 1999 Bill Keller launched LivePrayer.com; it has gone on to become the most successful online faith ministry in the history of the internet. LivePrayer is now providing a daily devotional written by Bill Keller for its over 2.4 million e-mail subscribers, while his team of retired pastors responds with personal replies to over 40,000 emails a day, over 70 million in the nearly 11 years since LivePrayer signed on. Information on the ministry is available at www.LivePrayer.com

Media Contact
Bill Keller
727-420-7005
bkeller@liveprayer.com

Kansas City, KS—We’ve all heard people say, “I’m a very spiritual person so why do I feel so bad?  Or, “I don’t think religious people are supposed to feel bad or down. We’re supposed to feel good all of the time, right”?

Not true, according to certified professional counselor Dr. Helen B. McIntosh, author of Messages To Myself: Overcoming a Distorted Self-Image (Beacon Hill Press, Kansas). As she counsels individuals one thing has become clear. People sometimes use religion as a crutch and cover for what is going on inside their hearts.

Says McIntosh, “They mask over difficult issues and real problems such as depression and anxiety and use religion as a way to hide what is really going on. They consider themselves ‘religious’ or ‘spiritual’ but they aren’t taking care of the real needs of their hearts and the way they think about themselves and how they talk to others.”

McIntosh says that it’s not always recognizable because they act like religious people in front of others but they are in great pain. “I think there is a real problem in the faith community in how individuals treat themselves, their families and others around them. There is an expectation that those in the faith community should have it all together. But some individuals use religious principles like mechanical “sticky notes” pasted on their foreheads and unfortunately it becomes a covering.  How can we stand out and not blend into the culture by the way we that treat our own hearts? What kind of impact could we have on our families if we owned up to our difficulties rather than pretend we’re okay?

McIntosh believes there is an undercurrent of thought that church and an individual’s problems should be kept apart. She believes that many individuals don’t want others, including those they go to church with, to know they are struggling with some very personal issues, maybe even those that the church wouldn’t “approve of.” She believes they may not feel like sharing due to a lack of emotional safety in churches.

But oddly, outside the church, celebrities proudly talk about how their psychologist or psychiatrist has helped them through rough times. Why don’t those of the faith talk about this openly as well? Would they see more healing and wholeness in their lives?

Dr. McIntosh’s work is not limited to those of the faith. She has worked in the public school system with students and parents as well as faculty. She believes better and healthier lives come from a unique way to clarify our thought life.

Her life work and book is counseling-based and she offers expertise to people who are confused, hurting, and ready to give up on parts of their life.  Dr. McIntosh has often been called a “language coach,” helping people learn messages for their own hearts as well as for their relationships.

Boston (July 9, 2010)—The Committee for Accuracy In Middle East Reporting in America has been paying close attention to the events at the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s General Assembly in Minneapolis, with a particular emphasis on the report submitted by the Middle East Study Committee (MESC). The original version of this report offered a highly partisan and distorted view of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

This is not what the PC(USA)’s General Assembly asked for when it created the Middle East Study Committee in 2008.

CAMERA is heartened by the General Assembly’s efforts to perfect the report. The General Assembly’s committee on Middle East Peacemaking engaged in a good-faith effort to correct the problems with the MESC report. Problems remain, but if PC(USA) leaders follow the process outlined in the overture passed by the General Assembly today, the church will embark on a process by which it can arrive at a comprehensive—and factual—understanding of all the factors contributing to the continued existence of this tragic conflict.

This is what the PC(USA)’s General Assembly asked for in 2008.

CAMERA hopes that this is what the church will receive in the years ahead.

Andrea Levin
Executive Director
CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America)
www.camera.org

For more information, contact:

Andrea Levin, CAMERA Executive Director, 617-789-3672

Dexter Van Zile, CAMERA Christian Media Analyst, 617-851-0912

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Somerset, NJ—What would you do if you were told you had only 72 hours to live?  Not an easy question to answer, but that’s exactly what participants in “The Last 72” Writing Contest must do. Currently run and sponsored by the Emmy award-winning Everest Production Company and The Fountain:  A Magazine of Scientific and Spiritual Thought, the competition invites writers to describe what it would be like if they suddenly had to live out three days as though they were their last.

The Last 72 rises from the premise that life is a gift, and that most people take for granted the amount of time they have on this earth.   As The Fountain’s editor Hakan Yesilova explains, “We all have things about our past or present that we’d like to set right.  But what changes would we make today if we realized the opportunity called life were running out?”

In addition to having their work published and winning up to $5,000 in cash prizes, finalists will also have the chance to star in an upcoming television program called THE LAST 72.  Part social experiment, part soul-stirring docu-series, the show will follow a new person each week as they race against the clock to live out what truly matters to them most.  And to those who think death is too gloomy a topic for TV, think again.  “This is about uplifting people. By acknowledging their own mortality, they’ll be equipping themselves to appreciate just how precious life is,” says Everest’s Nasuhi Yurt, executive producer for the series.

So, how should writers submitting to The Last 72 seize the judges’ attention?  Contest organizers stress, zoom in on your real life and be specific.  According to Yesilova, “We’re not looking for bucket list fantasies. Who do you need to forgive?  Will your family be taken care of? What actions would allow you to look back and say ‘I’m finally at peace with how I’ve led my life.’”

Yurt frames it this way, “As you describe what you would do for your own Last 72 and why, get personal. How would those things change your actual life?  And imagine what we would see if our cameras were right there filming you accomplish it!”

For more information contact:
Ali  Y.  Akarcesme,  contest@last72.com,  www.last72.com, 1-732 560 0800  ext. 315

Winners will be revealed Sept. 25, 2010, at the 61^st RNA Annual Conference Awards Banquet in Denver. Congrats, finalists!

Contact:
Debra Mason
DebraMason@RNA.org
573-882-9257

(Columbia, Mo.)—Gustav Niebuhr comes from a family of prominent theologians.

But when Gustav started his journalism career three decades ago, the 2010 winner of the William A. Reed Lifetime Achievement Award never imagined he’d report on religion for several of America’s leading newspapers. The Religion Newswriters Association announced Niebuhr’s award on Wednesday, April 14, 2010. He’s the 10th winner of the award that originated in 2001.

A former colleague piqued Gustav’s interest in religion when she mentioned that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was serious about covering religion and wanted someone to help put religion on the front page.

“She only mentioned it, but it caught my attention in a major way,” Gustav recalled in a recent interview. “I realized then it was exactly what I wanted to do.”

After landing the job with the Journal-Constitution, a collection of stories he wrote on the rise of evangelical Christianity in Latin America and its influence on conflicts nearby caught the attention of editors at The Wall Street Journal, who hired him as the paper’s first full-time religion writer. A few years later, he tackled the religion beat at The Washington Post before finally capping his religion-reporting career at The New York Times.

His work has received numerous accolades, including RNA’s Supple Award for Religion Writer of the Year in 1988, 1991 and 1993, and RNA’s Templeton Religion Reporter of the Year Award in 1993.

Niebuhr also served as an RNA treasurer, secretary and second vice president in the 1990s. In 2003, Gustav accepted a position as an associate professor at Syracuse University, where he now teaches history of religion courses for the religion department and journalism at the Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Niebuhr will receive his award at RNA’S Annual Conference in Denver, Sept.23-25, 2010.

Religion Newswriters promotes excellence in media coverage and public discourse about religion through its resources, including: RELIGION | LINK story ideas and sources; a religionstylebook and primer; an annual conference; contest; membership and networking. For more information, see RNA.org.

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Introduction of the Vatican Observatory iPhone app follows on Pope Benedict XVI’s recent encouragement of all parts of the Vatican to reach people worldwide through new technology.

For more information or to purchase this app, visit www.DailySermonettes.com.

Father Michael Manning is the author of Fifteen Faces of God: A Quest to Know God through the Parables of Jesus (Doubleday Religion, 3/16/2010, $18.00), as well as founder and president of Wordnet Productions. His television program, The Word in the World, is seen weekly on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, putting his message into more than 200,000 households across the country. He has also served as high school teacher, vocation director, provincial, prison chaplain, and pastor. Visit his website at www.WordNet.tv.

For publicity inquires on Father Michael Manning or his book Fifteen Faces of God, please contact: Johanna Inwood, Marketing Manager and Publicist for Doubleday Religion, jinwood@randomhouse.com // 719-264-5696.

Entering is free! Stories from professional internships or student media in print or online formats are accepted. A sampling of eligible topics include:

• Religion & LGBT youth
• Haiti/Chile earthquakes & faith-based outreach
• Pop culture & religion (movies, music, books, television)
• Diverse faiths on campus
• Science, health & religion (abortion, stem cell research, health care)
• Terrorism, Iraq War

The award, administered by the Religion Newswriters Association, honors excellence in student writing with an emphasis on reporting skill and a grasp of religion issues that is fair, balanced and in accordance with journalistic standards.

The entry deadline is May 3, 2010, and winners will be notified by July 1, 2010.

To view the contest rules and enter online, visit our website, www.rna.org/?page=chandler, or become a fan on Facebook:

Student religion reporters and editors can also benefit from these free resources from RELIGION | NEWSWRITERS, available at www.RNA.org:

• Religion | LINK story ideas and sources
• Stylebook of religious terms
• Primer on covering religion
• Online resource library
• RNA student membership information

The student contest is made possible through the generosity of the Chandler Legacy Fund in honor of Russell Chandler, former religion writer for the Los Angeles Times.

RELIGION | NEWSWRITERS is the world’s only association for journalists who write about religion in the general circulation news media.  We strive to promote excellence in media coverage and public discourse about religion by offering tools and training on covering religion, including: RELIGION | LINK story ideas and sources; a religion stylebook, primer and frequently asked questions about the religion beat; an annual training conference; contests honoring excellence in religion coverage; membership and networking. For more information or how to join RNA, see www.RNA.org.

The scholarships give full-time journalists up to $5,000 to cover the cost of taking college religion courses.

With religion in the headlines more than ever, now is the perfect time to dig deeper into today’s hottest religion stories. More than 200 people have already taken advantage of Religion Newswriters’ Lilly Scholarships in Religion Program for Journalists.

Some of the timely topics they’ve studied include: Religion and Medicine, Islamic Movements, God & Politics, Culture of the Contemporary Arab World, Science & Religion and Evangelism, Religion, Violence and Liberation.

“I believe the chance this class [Isaiah to Malachi] has given me will prove invaluable in my work covering religion and faith in the years ahead,” said William Wan of The Washington Post.

The scholarships can be used at any accredited college, university, seminary or similar institution.  Journalists can take any course they choose as long as it is in the field of religion. Scholarships cover tuition, books, registration fees, parking and other costs. Online and travel courses are also included (as long as travel costs are a part of the curriculum).

All full-time journalists—including reporters, editors, designers, copy editors, editorial writers, news directors, researchers and producers—are eligible, regardless of whether or not they cover religion.

The next scholarship application deadline is April. 1, 2010. Scholarships must be used within three academic quarters of their award date. Only full-time journalists working in the general circulation news media are eligible.

Religion Newswriters Association is the world’s only journalism association for people who write about religion in the mainstream news media. The scholarships are offered through its non-profit arm, the Religion Newswriters Foundation, with funding from the Lilly Endowment, Inc.

Complete information about the Lilly Scholarships in Religion program is available at http://www.religionwriters.com. For questions, contact Amy Schiska at 573-355-5201 ext. 3#, or Schiska@RNA.org.

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Contact:
Amy Schiska
573-355-5201 ext. 3#
Schiska@RNA.org