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Annual
report describes Center's activities
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Community
members gathered in April 2006
for "God and the Commons:
Does Religion Matter?,"
a colloquy sponsored by the
Center for Religion, the Professions
& the Public.
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Nov. 29, 2006
-- The Center for Religion, the Professions
& the Public recently submitted
its annual report to The
Pew Charitable Trusts, which provides
grant funding to the Center.
The report details
what the Center has done over the
past year to fulfill its goal of improving
religious literacy among the professions.
Activities included public forums;
a survey on religion news coverage;
academic curriculum development; a
consortium on professional ethics;
and research on spirituality and health.
The Center is affiliated with the
School of Journalism at University
of Missouri-Columbia. Portions of
the annual report are included here.
Public forums
The Center participated
in nine events around the country
attended by more than 1,400 people,
including policy leaders, professionals,
theologians, ethicists, scholars,
the public and journalists. Meetings
focused on themes of religion and
public life, including religion and
politics, religion and investigative
journalism, and religion and culture.
Formats ranged from colloquy style
to scholarly presentations. In addition,
the Center assisted or participated
in four other events and has plans
for several others.
Specifics for these
events:
The Center sponsored
and organized two public colloquies
under the auspices of the latest Pew
grant, a renewal of a 2003 grant from
Pew. These included "An
Evening with Literary Journalists"
and "God
& the Commons."
"An
Evening with Literary Journalists,"
held Feb. 22, 2006, featured Professor
Walt
Harrington, literary journalist
and author or editor of six books
on the specialty, plus panelists and
four supporting faculty members of
the Missouri School of Journalism.
The event's purpose was to offer literary
journalists an opportunity to discuss
with citizens the public purpose of
their work. Invited scholars also
discussed the potential value of literary
techniques as a means to communicate
personal meaning at a level of intimacy
that could be adapted by those who
write about religion.
Supporting faculty
members were: Jacqui
Banaszynski, Knight Editing Chair
and Pulitzer Prize winner; Mary
Kay Blakely, magazine writer;
Berkley
Hudson, newspaper and magazine
writer and collector of folk stories;
and Steve
Weinberg, investigative journalist,
book author and former executive director
of Investigative Reporters & Editors.
The event was sponsored by the Center,
with the Missouri
School of Journalism and Society
of Professional Journalists.
"God
and the Commons: Does Religion Matter?"
was held on April 17, 2006, organized
by Professor Emeritus Edmund B. Lambeth
and staff and moderated by Extension
Associate Professor Sandra Hodge of
the University of Missouri. It
was attended by 20 citizens from diverse
religious perspectives, including
Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus, Jews,
Muslims and Protestant Christians,
as well as several citizens with mixed-faith
traditions. The event's purpose was
to share with citizens of Columbia
the experience of exchanging thoughts
on various approaches to religion
as a way of examining public life.
These include a.) a secular approach
to dialogue; b.) the Judeo-Christian
perspective as a resource; and c.)
tapping the civic potential of religion.
This public session in the Friends
Room of the Columbia Public Library
used a study guide as the focus of
the conversation. Several people who
spoke shared their appreciation for
the civil nature of the discussion,
as well as desire to meet again to
discuss other topics. A transcript
of the event will be posted on the
Center's Web site.
The Center
brought philosopher Robert
Audi, Ph.D., a David E. Gallo
Professor of Business Ethics in the
Department of Management at the University
of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of
Business, to speak on Sept. 21, 2006.
Audi, a former president of the Society
of Christian Philosophers, spoke on
"Science Education and Church-State
Separation" to about 85 students,
faculty, staff and community members
at a public lecture held at the MU
School of Medicine.
He spoke about the
challenge of teaching science in public
schools in a society that has both
separation of church and state and
a commitment to religious freedom.
Audi said that the nation's plurality
of beliefs - some fundamentally religious
- can make teaching topics such as
evolution and the origin of the universe
a challenge. In his lecture, Audi
explored topics such as evolutionary
biology, secular humanism in ethics,
the multi-faceted character of religion
and treatment of intelligent design
in proposing a framework for teaching
students with a wide variety of beliefs.
He advocated neutrality toward religion
in science courses, but not indifference
to beliefs held by students. Audi
emphasized that scientific method
is not incompatible with a belief
in God, endorsing cultivating a "scientific
habit of mind" in all students.
Audi, who is co-editor
of the Association for Practical and
Professional Ethics Book Series, also
spoke on "Ethics as an Interdisciplinary
Enterprise" to about a dozen
MU faculty, positing that an interdisciplinary
approach to teaching ethics is appropriate,
both applied and in theory, as nearly
every discipline has ethical components,
from law to business, technology and
the media. It is appropriate to teach
about ethics in religion courses as
well, Audi said, but to understand
that while religious beliefs can be
ethical, ethical beliefs are not required
to be religious in origin.
Debra
L. Mason, director of the Center
for Religion, the Professions &
the Public, spoke Oct. 20, 2006, on
"The Impact of Convergence on
Religion News Coverage: Journalists
and Students of Religion Reporting
Explore Trends, Meanings and Uses
of New Media" at "Convergence
and Society: Ethics, Religion and
New Media." The conference was
held at the Newsplex at the University
of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C.
Center staff member
Justin Hienz attended the workshop,
"Covering God, Elections &
Gays: Workshops for Reporters,"
June 16-17, 2006, in Columbus, Ohio,
which featured panels on faith and
popular culture, God and politics
in the mid-term elections, the Episcopal
Church at a crossroads and an Episcopal
Church leadership roundtable. His
attendance resulted in publication
of his paper, "Religion Journalism
and Popular Culture," in the
Center's on-line journal.
The Center also helped
organize or publicize several events
that contribute to learning in the
field of religious understanding.
The Center partnered with other MU
centers that share similar goals in
growing literacy of religion in health
ethics, cultural tolerance and conflict
resolution, among others.
Events included:
"The
Ethics of Biomedical Enhancement:
The Olympics, the Tour de France,
and the Future of Humankind,"
on April 27, 2006, at the MU Alumni
Center, featuring distinguished lecturer
Thomas H. Murray, Ph.D. Murray is
president of The Hastings Center and
was formerly the Director of the Center
for Biomedical Ethics in the School
of Medicine at Case Western Reserve
University in Cleveland, Ohio. He
served as president of the Society
for Health and Human Values, and of
the American Society for Bioethics
and Humanities. Murray has testified
before many Congressional committees,
and is the author of more than 200
publications. He is co-editor of the
Encyclopedia of Ethical, Legal and
Policy Issues in Biotechnology.
"Civilizing
the New Century: Managing Communication
and Conflict Across Cultures,"
on Sept. 18, 2006, in the MU Geology
Building, featuring public relations
expert and MU professor Glen
Cameron, Ph.D. Cameron is co-author
of "Public Relations: Strategies
and Tactics" and "Essentials
of Public Relations" and is currently
writing the book, "Public Relations:
Managing Competition and Conflict."
He holds the Maxine Wilson Gregory
Chair in Journalism, and is also a
professor of family and community
medicine and an adjunct nursing instructor.
"Ethics
of the Health Professions: Dignity,
Justice and Society," on
Oct. 13-14, 2006, at the Alumni Center
and Holiday Inn Select in Columbia,
Mo. The symposium featured speakers
Edmund D. Pellegrino, M.D., chairman
of the President's council on Bioethics
in Washington, D.C., and Daniel H.
Winship, M.D., chief of the Cook County
Bureau of Health Services in Chicago,
Ill. Pellegrino is a member of the
Center for Religion, the Professions
& the Public's national advisory
board.
Washington Post
foreign correspondent Anthony
Shadid spoke on Nov. 2, 2006,
at MU Memorial Union about his experiences
covering the Middle East and the war
in Iraq. Shadid, an Islamic affairs
correspondent based in the Middle
East, won a 2004 Pulitzer Prize for
his international reporting and is
the author of several books, including
his latest, Night Draws Near: Iraq's
People in the Shadow of America's
War. Shadid is Lebanese American,
born in Oklahoma, and has a fluency
in Arabic and an understanding of
Arab culture that give him rare access
to and empathy for the people whose
stories he tells. Shadid spoke to
about 100 staff, faculty, students
and community members, answered questions
and signed copies of his books.
The Center continues
to work with the 32 faculty members
affiliated with the Center. Affiliated
faculty come from a range of disciplines,
including public affairs, theater,
family and community medicine, social
work, religious studies, advertising,
journalism, health psychology, physical
medicine and rehabilitation, occupational
therapy, agricultural economics, social
sciences, clinical medicine, marketing
and law. It also works with the 18
members of its national advisory board,
who represent prestigious universities
and experts from around the nation.
Spirituality and Health
The Center's Spirituality
and Health project includes a team
of diverse professionals including
faculty with expertise in religious
studies, cultural anthropology, social
work, medical sociology, neuropsychology,
health psychology, rehabilitation
medicine and oncology. Its pilot project
is investigating relationships among
spirituality, religion, physical health
and mental health in 200 individuals
with medical conditions, chronic illnesses
and disabilities, such as traumatic
brain injury, spinal cord injury,
stroke, cancer, ventilator-dependent
pulmonary disorders and physical conditions
treated at a family medicine clinic.
Publications are
planned on the topics of:
- Relationships
among spirituality/religion and
physical health outcomes in all
populations;
- Relationships
among spirituality/religion and
mental health outcomes in all populations;
- Spirituality/religion
differences between different medical/disability
groups;
- Spirituality/religion
differences between cognitively
impaired and cognitively intact
individuals; and
- The neuropsychology
of spiritual experience.
- Follow-up studies
will research the efficacy of mindfulness-based
stress reduction on persons with
chronic disabilities; transcendence
and right hemisphere functioning;
and spirituality as a personality
construct.
The Spirituality
and Health project is directed by
Dr.
George (Brick) Johnstone, Center
staff member and Chair of the MU Department
of Health Psychology. Johnstone and
Dr.
Guy McCormack, clinical professor
and Chair of Occupational Therapy,
were awarded an MU School of Health
Professions Research Catalyst Grant
to study the relationship between
brain functions and transcendence.
In addition, the Spirituality and
Health research team is developing
several grant efforts for external
funding to study spirituality and
health risk behaviors in adolescents,
the relationship between neuroscience
and religion, and additional projects
on the neuropsychology of spiritual
experience.
Faculty from the
Spirituality and Health project have
been active in attending conferences,
submitting articles for publication
and offering professional presentations.
For example, Johnstone attended a
research workshop of spirituality,
religion and health at the Center
for Spirituality, Theology and Health
at Duke University Medical Center
July 23-27, 2006. Over the past year
faculty from the Center's Spirituality
and Health project have completed
several other articles and presentations.
Curriculum development
Courses affiliated
with the Center include:
Faculty from eight
professions participated in the honors
class in Fall 2006. The Center's George
(Brick) Johnstone, who heads the Center's
Spirituality and Health project, will
teach a Spirituality and Health undergraduate
course in Winter
2007. The Journalism 4426 course
will also be taught in Winter 2007,
and plans are to make Journalism 8001
a permanent course. In addition, the
Center is proposing creation of a
religion reporting specialization
in the journalism school.
The 2006 Spring Seminar
on Journalism, Religion and Public
Life, a seminar for graduate students
and advanced seniors, emphasized development
of in-depth research skills for long-form
stories on religion and public policy.
Shortly before the third anniversary
of the U.S. military's invasion of
Iraq, the weekly NewSunday Missourian
featured a four-page spread by Laura
Johnston and LaRue Diehl reporting
the positions on the Iraq war taken
by eight religious denominations and
extended interviews with clergy. "Just
War Theory" provided a context
for the interviews and six dimensions
of the theory were summarized for
readers in a sidebar. A front-page
graphic highlighted the story, which
also featured a picture and inside
reference to an interview with Mohammed
Nabeel Ahmed Khan, a new imam in the
Islamic Center of Central Missouri.
The package, "Serving
God and County," by Diehl,
Johnston and Leah Lohse, developed
as a project for the Religion and
Public Life course, is reprinted with
permission on the Center Web site,
as is "The
Soul of A Soldier," an article
written by Lohse about an Army soldier
who petitioned for conscientious objector
status due to religious beliefs, after
he was deployed to Iraq.
The seminar's emphasis
on applied research was also reflected
in a master's project supervised by
Professor Emeritus Ed Lambeth, in
which graduate student Cassandra Fuerst
generated and edited seven "community
religion columns" that appeared
in spring issues of the NewSunday
Missourian. Columns were written
by a Buddhist monk; a Methodist and
retired high school counselor; the
leader of a Hillel Foundation for
Jewish Campus Life; a Catholic hospital
chaplain; an engineering professor
who serves as interim president of
a Hindu Temple and Community Center;
a Christian retired pastor and volunteer
for Heifer International Project;
and an Islamic Iraqi who operates
an international food store. Missourian
editors said they want to continue
publishing community religion columnists,
as they have come to understand and
embrace the Center's emphasis on fostering
religious literacy and public understanding
of the country's increasing religious
diversity. This Center-originated
idea also contributes to the emerging
practice of citizen journalism.
Fuerst, a 2006 MU
School of Journalism graduate, also
completed a master's project, "Connecting
with the Religion News Reader."
The project explored religion journalism's
place at small newspapers such as
the Columbia Missourian. The project
aimed to help religion journalists
better understand readers. Through
interviews with 17 Columbia residents
and three Missourian editors, Fuerst
studied whether the interests of the
community paralleled the direction
of religion editors and reporters.
The project was reported in the Association
for Education in Journalism and Mass
Communication Religion and Media Interest
Group News in Summer 2006.
Ethics consortium
The Center initiated
discussions among faculty at MU's
professional schools about religion's
role in informing ethical standards,
particularly given the importance
of teaching a profession's ethical
code and core values to new members.
They also addressed the question of
whether teaching methods and curricula
of professional schools need to be
adjusted, given the implications of
America's increased religious and
cultural diversity
The consortium's
efforts included a number of presentations,
discussions and publications. These
are detailed below:
Center staff member
Edmund
B. Lambeth, University of Missouri
Professor of Journalism Emeritus,
presented "Alasdair MacIntyre's
After Virtue and the Fourth Estate
Post-9/11" Aug. 5, 2006, at the
Conference on Virtue Ethics: Interdisciplinary
Perspectives, University of San Francisco.
He also wrote an article on the subject
intended for the Journal of Interdisciplinary
Studies Vol. 19, 2007.
"An Introduction
to Mass Media Ethics," by Edmund
B. Lambeth, is the first chapter in
Mitchell Land and Bill Hornaday, Editors,
Contemporary Media Ethics (Spokane:
Marquette Books, 2006).
"Media
& Conflict Resolution: A Report
from a New Academic Frontier,"
by Edmund B. Lambeth, an essay
for the Center Web site, resulted
from a Sept. 15, 2006, presentation
at the Conference on the Media Impact
on Conflict in Democracies, co-sponsored
by the Center for the Study
of Conflict, Law and the Media,
and the Reynolds
Journalism Institute, University
of Missouri. The piece will be revised
for a future book chapter, and an
expanded version will be submitted
to the Journal of Dispute Resolution,
published through the MU School of
Law.
The Center's Ethics
Group meets regularly to discuss selected
books relating to ethics. Members
of the group come from the disciplines
of religious studies, public affairs,
marketing, clinical medicine and journalism,
as well as faculty and staff of the
Center for Religion, the Professions
& the Public. Books included "The
Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative"
by Thomas King and "The Cheating
Culture" by David Callahan.
Religion news survey
The Center contracted
to complete more than 20 public discussions
that will inform work on a national
survey assessing citizens' interests
and preferences related to news on
religion. The Center is working with
local media to create models to be
used in the discussions. In addition,
the Center is conducting content analysis
of media coverage of religion and
most-read religion stories on the
Internet. The findings will inform
us as we design chapters for a book
resulting from the religion journalism
project, tentatively titled "The
Future of Religion Journalism in the
21st Century;" and aid us as
we focus the survey to best provide
new and useful results.
Additional progress
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| Smith |
Faculty members and
graduate students have participated
in seminars and pursued teaching and
research. The Center's outreach activities
have fostered religious literacy within
the professions on our campus, in
the working world and around the nation.
Former Center fellows
have taken their research and skills
learned while working with the Center
to institutions nationwide. As an
example, L. Scott Smith, a former
senior law fellow with the Center,
has been publishing steadily since
serving with the Center, including
several publications in a respected
law journal. The most recent is "From
Promised Land to Tower of Babel: Religious
Pluralism and the Future of the Liberal
Experiment in America," which
has been accepted for publication
in the Brandeis Law Journal. He expects
to complete a book this spring.
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