Center on Religion & the Professions

Improving religious literacy among professionals.

Holocaust survivor will speak at Ellis Library ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day

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Guenter Goldsmith, who escaped Nazi Germany on the last Kindertransport and arrived in St. Louis in August 1941, will speak on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day at Ellis Library at MU. The event is cosponsored by Mizzou Hillel, the MU Department of German and Russian Studies and the MU Libraries Diversity Action Committee. Goldsmith’s presentation will be followed by a Q-and-A session and a reception.

In addition to the talk on April 17, Ellis Library will be displaying winning submissions of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum’s annual Art and Writing Competition throughout the month of April.

Time/Date: 2 p.m. April 17

Location: Ellis Library at MU (map)

Cost: The event is free and open to the public.

For more information: Contact the MU Department of German and Russian Studies at MU at (573) 882-4328 or via email.

Center releases study on religious voices in the media on issues affecting gay and lesbian community

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The Center on Religion & the Professions, in partnership with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), released a three-year content analysis of news stories on Apr. 12, 2012 that shows a disproportionate number of anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) issues. The study examined 316 stories citing more than 1,350 sources with a religious identification, a vast majority of which had formal church policies opposing LGBT equality.

For more information, read the full press release from GLAAD, or contact GLAAD Director of Communications Rich Ferraro at (646) 871-8011 or via email; or GLAAD Director of Religion, Faith and Values Ross Murray at (646) 871-8040 or via email.

CORP Executive Director Debra Mason served as project director for the study, and was assisted by Cathy Ellen Rosenholtz, a Ph.D. candidate in Communications at MU and master’s graduate of the Divinity School at Harvard University.

For more specifics, (.pdf) read the report in its entirety from the Center on Religion and & the Professions website.

MU doctoral candidate links religion and conflict, violence in video games

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Greg Perrault, a Ph.D. candidate at MU’s School of Journalism, presented an analysis of five current-generation video games and how they depicted religion in January at the Center for Media, Religion, and Culture’s International Conference on Digital Religion at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Perrault’s paper, titled “RPG Religion: Depictions of Religion in Contemporary Role-Playing Games,” examines five games: Mass Effect 2, Assassin’s Creed, Final Fantasy XIII, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and how religion is presented in each. Perrault found that, in all five games, a violent side to religion is presented that the protagonist must overcome.

Perrault concludes that it is not an agenda on the part of game developers to present religion as a problematized institution plagued by violence, but rather that religion is used as a narrative device in the games to introduce conflict for the player to resolve.

“Religion appears to get tied in with violence because that makes for a compelling narrative,” Perrault told the MU News Bureau.

Missouri School of Religion hosts eRacism workshop in Excelsior Springs April 12-14

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Marcus Leathers and Martha Herrin, national trainers for the Pro-Reconciliation/Anti-Racism Initiative of the Christian Church Disciples of Christ, will lead workshop-goers through exercises designed to increase understanding of why racism occurs and how to prevent it. The workshop is open to the public and continuing education credit is available for worship leaders through the Missouri School of Religion. The deadline to apply is March 29. Scholarships are available to defray the cost of attendance.

Time/Date: 7 p.m. April 12 (no dinner served) to 3 p.m. April 14

Location: Lake Doniphan Conference and Retreat Center, 12856 Lake Doniphan Road, Excelsior Springs, Mo., 64024 (directions)

Cost: $100 for meals and lodging (up to four per room), $75 meals only

Registration: Online or download the registration form and mail to:

Missouri School of Religion
P.O. Box 104685
Jefferson City, MO 65110-4685

For more information: Contact Missouri School of Religion Office Administrator Krystal Jacobs via email or by phone (573-635-1187)

Teen Relationship Education & Empowerment workshop set for March 11-12

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Teen Relationship Education & Empowerment, a volunteer organization in Columbia, Mo., dedicated to giving faith communities the tools to educate their youth members on healthy and nonviolent relationships, will hold another in its series of workshops on Sunday and Monday, March 11-12, 2012. Members of 15 area congregations have already participated in past workshops, including Bethel Baptist Church, Broadway Christian Church and Evangelical United Church of Christ in Boonville.

Participants will be provided with a wealth of knowledge on the subject of healthy teen relationships, including statistics about teen dating violence, TREE lending library resources and guest speakers from numerous organizations, including the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.

TREE receives funding from several sources, including the Center on Religion & the Professions at MU.

For more information, contact TREE organizer Kim Gage Ryan via telephone (573-489-2729) or email, or visit TREE’s website. This event is free and open to members of faith communities in Boone County, but registration is limited.

Mark A. Chancey to give lecture on religion and public life on March 1

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Professor Mark A. Chancey of Southern Methodist University will visit MU on Thursday, March 1 to present the fourth in a series of distinguished lectures on religion and public life sponsored in part by the Center on Religion and the Professions. Chancey’s lecture is titled “Educating for a ‘Christian America’: Religion and the Texas Social Studies Controversy.” He will discuss the decision by the Texas state Board of Education in 2010 to enact new standards in their social studies curricula that played up the role of Christianity in U.S. history.

Chancey joined the faculty at Southern Methodist in 2000, after obtaining his master’s in religion from the University of Georgia in 1995 and his Ph.D. from Duke University in 1999. He has written two books, the most recent of which is 2005’s “Greco-Roman Culture and the Galilee of Jesus.” He has frequently published on the issues of teaching Biblical courses in public schools.

Time/Date: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 1

Location: Mark Twain Ballroom in the Memorial Union at MU (campus map)

Cost: The lecture is free and open to the public.

For more information: Visit the Department of Religious Studies’ website, or contact the department via telephone (573-882-4769) or email.

Center-funded study indicates religious, spiritual support may help chronically ill cope

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A recently published study from two MU professors and supported  by the Center on Religion and the Professions found evidence to suggest that religious and spiritual support can help alleviate stress and physical symptoms related to chronic illness for both men and women. The study was co-authored by a team of researchers from the MU Health Psychology Department and School of Social Work and was recently published in the Journal of Religion, Disability & Health. MizzouWeekly published a summary of the findings and interview with two of the paper’s authors, Stephanie Reid-Arndt, an associate professor of health psychology, and Brick Johnstone, a professor health psychology and director fo the MU Spirituality and Health Research program. The full text of the study can be found online through the Taylor & Francis Group.

City of Columbia accepting rolling applications for Human Rights Enhancement Program funding

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From the City of Columbia website:

“Through the Human Rights Enhancement Program, the city is interested in contracting with local organizations to provide human rights educational services in our community.  Services pertaining to the issues of discrimination, diversity, inclusion, tolerance, multicultural education and related human rights issues are considered for funding.  The HREP is also intended to encourage collaboration between organizations and individuals concerned with human rights issues and assist them with leveraging other monies in the support of these issues.”

The city urges organizations and individuals applying for funding to consider how their proposal should address human rights issues in the community as per the city’s Human Rights Ordinance. The City of Columbia Commission on Human Rights considers applications on a rolling basis throughout the year. Applications received by the 15th of each month will be assessed during the next scheduled commission meeting (calendar). Projects submitted for funding must be completed within a calendar year of when funds are awarded.

For more information: Contact the City of Columbia Human Rights Commission by phone at (573) 874-7488, by fax at (573) 874-7756, via email or by snail mail:
The Division of Human Services
P.O. Box 6015
1005 W. Worley
Columbia, MO  65205-6015

For additional information on the grant application process, refer to the Human Rights Enhancement Program policy (.pdf). Also on the commission’s website, you can find detailed reports of previous funding through the HREP program.

Champa Lhunpo returns to Hickman High School for Amnesty International meeting

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Champa Lhunpo, a teacher of Tibetan language and culture at the University of Kansas, will speak with students and the public at 3 p.m Thursday, Nov. 10  at Hickman High School during an Amnesty International meeting. Lhunpo has spoken on several occasions at Hickman about Tibetan culture and Buddhism. Lhunpo will be speaking about human rights issues in Tibet.

Time/Date: 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10

Location: Hickman High School Dining Hall Annex (map)

For more information: George Frisell (via email) or Nicole Overeem (via email), faculty sponsors for Hickman chapter of Amnesty International

Columbia Values Diversity invites nominations for its annual awards

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The Columbia Values Diversity Celebration Planning Committee is now accepting nominations for its 15th annual Diversity Awards. Each year, the committee bestows its award on one individual/family and one group/organization that promotes diversity and cultural understanding in the community. Nominees should also also exemplify the life and teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in fostering racial equality and solving problems non-violently. Award-winners will be honored during a ceremony Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012.

Deadline: noon on Tuesday, Nov. 29

Forms: Nomination guidelines (.pdf), nomination form (.pdf)

Submissions: should be sent to Columbia Values Diversity Award Committee. Via fax: (573) 874-7756. Via email.
Via snail mail:
Columbia Values Diversity Award Committee
c/o City of Columbia, Division of Human Services
1005 W. Worley St., P.O. Box 6015, Columbia, MO 65205-6015

For more information: Visit the Diversity Awards page on the City of Columbia website, or contact the city’s Division of Human Services at (573) 874-7488, or via email.