Black Baptist prof told to choose college or church. Professor Denise Isom loves her work at Calvin College and her Grand Rapids church, Messiah Missionary Baptist. But her employer has told she must choose one or the other. The Calvin board has refused to exempt Isom from a rule that requires professors to attend a congregation with ties to the Christian Reformed Church. The issue sparked a student “prayer protest” and discussion about how the church-membership policies may hurt diversity on campus. Isom, an assistant professor of education since 2003, is black and her research focuses on race and education. She told the board she finally found what she was looking for at the predominantly black Messiah Missionary Baptist.
Religious activists lobby for changes in farm bill. Religious leaders led by the Bread for the World advocacy group have refused to endorse subsidies for large farm operations and demanded that senators pass an agriculture bill that supports small farmers, as well as the nation's poor. The $288 billion farm bill, reauthorized every five years, has come under attack this year from an array of groups for its large commodity payments, subsidizing production of wheat, rice, corn, cotton and soybeans. According to the Washington-based Environmental Working Group, $164.7 billion in commodity payments were made between 1995 and 2005 — and 10 percent of subsidy recipients received 73 percent of the money. The group voiced support for several proposed amendments—one seeking a $250,000 yearly cap on commodity payments to farmers; another cutting commodity payments and offering free revenue insurance for all farmers, with savings redirected to nutritional support programs.
Pittsburgh takes step toward leaving Episcopal Church. The Diocese of Pittsburgh has taken a big step out the door of the Episcopal Church, declaring itself at odds with the denomination's more liberal view of Scripture and homosexuality and paving the way to join a more conservative Anglican branch. By a 227-82 ballot, lay and ordained delegates to Pittsburgh's annual convention voted to change their diocese's constitution, removing language that requires “accession” to the national church. Pittsburgh is the third U.S. diocese to take that step, following San Joaquin, Calif., and Quincy, Ill. Constitutional changes require the approval of two consecutive diocesan conventions. San Joaquin is scheduled to hold its second vote on the constitutional change in December.
Pundit/professor named Vatican ambassador. President Bush has nominated Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard Law School professor and conservative commentator, as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. Glendon, 69, is a longtime opponent of abortion and gay marriage and has written widely on culture and ethics in books and scholarly journals. Her appointment must be confirmed by the Senate. The Massachusetts native has served on the President's Council on Bioethics and — until her nomination — was an adviser to the presidential campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Compiled from Religion News Service