Panel Will Discuss Future Of Religion
Eastern Washington University will hold the concluding session of its Public Affairs Symposium, “Religion and the Social Order,” at 9 a.m. today in Gonzaga University’s Hughes Auditorium.
The symposium examines the role and place that religion plays in modern America with regard to Supreme Court rulings.
A panel of three legal experts and three local commentators will discuss and hypothesize about the direction religion is headed in this country.
Legal experts slated to speak are Douglas Laycock of the University of Texas Law School, Stephen Pepper of the University of Denver School of Law and William P. Marshall of Case-Western Reserve University School of Law.
Laycock is best known for representing the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aya in front of the Supreme Court over the use of animals for religious sacrifices. He won.
Pepper maintains a traditional view of the U.S. Constitution’s clause forbidding official “establishment of religion.”
Marshall is a proponent of religion as freedom of expression.
The three commentators are: Niel Zimmerman, an EWU government professor; James Vache, a Gonzaga Law School professor who has written extensively on religion and the Constitution; and Joseph Schuster, an EWU government and constitutional law professor and author of “The First Amendment in the Balance.”
The symposium continues until 2 p.m.
For more information, call 359-4222.
Concert at Redeemer Lutheran
The musical “Celebration of Praise” will be staged Wednesday at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 3606 S. Schafer Road.
The show melds contemporary Christian music and seasoned hymns with drama. It features world-traveled vocalists David and Barbara Anderson.
Tickets - $5 for adults and $3 for children 12 and under - are available at area Lutheran churches or at Camp Lutherhaven, Coeur d’Alene. For more information, contact the church at 926-6363.
Youth conference
Nine churches in the region are sponsoring a youth conference titled “Stomping Out the Darkness” next Friday and Saturday at Valley Fourth Memorial Church, 2303 S. Bowdish Road.
The conference will focus on teaching youth how to handle negative peer pressure, fear and insecurity and how to live a fruitful Christian life.
Dave Park, co-director of Freedom of Christ Youth Ministries in La Habra, Calif., will be the speaker.
On Wednesday at 7 p.m., Park will present a free talk to parents about “What’s Happening to Our Youth Today.”
On Thursday from 7-9 p.m. and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:40 p.m., Park will present a seminar for youth pastors, youth sponsors and parents on how to nurture and minister to today’s youth. Cost is $35 per person and includes the youth conference.
Hours of the youth conference are 7-9 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Cost is $30 per person.
For more information, call Valley Fourth Memorial Church at 924-4525.
Sisters of Providence workshop
“Feminine Faces of God: Who Are We?” is a daylong workshop sponsored by the Sisters of Providence from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 24 at Providence Auditorium, Ninth and Rockwood.
The workshop will include women of various lifestyles who will share their insights and stories. There will be discussion of women mystics and their impact, and a sacred, psychological perspective of God as loving presence, a spokeswoman said.
Guest speakers will be Sister Elsie Kelly and Patricia Hopkins, author of “The Feminine Face of God: The Unfolding of the Sacred in Women” and “Good-bye to Guilt.”
The workshop costs $10. Lunch is $5.
For more information or to register, call 455-4884.
Women’s Aglow retreat
The annual fall retreat for the Northeast Washington-North Idaho Women’s Aglow Fellowship will be Sept. 29-Oct. 1, at Templin’s Resort in Post Falls.
“Whose Report Will You Believe? We Will Believe the Report of the Lord!!!” is the weekend’s theme.
Three speakers will discuss a variety of topics: Bobby Byerly, Women’s Aglow national president, from Seattle; Julene Tremborn, wife of a Spokane pastor; and Laurel Haynes, Washington state prayer coordinator from Wenatchee.
Women’s Aglow Fellowship is an interdenominational group of Christian women. The fellowship, established in Seattle in 1967, has grown into an international organization of more than 1,000 groups.
For more information or to register, call (208) 765-5794, (509) 924-6871 or (509) 928-5422.
12 couples reaffirm vows
Covenant Christian Church celebrated the 50th wedding anniversaries of 12 couples last Sunday.
During the morning service, the Rev. James Burford, associate regional minister for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), led the couples in the reaffirmation of their wedding vows. A reception with wedding cake and music followed.