Occasionally, readers ask why a particular subject was covered on these pages. "Items of Interest" actually restored, in a new form, a feature of this magazine that Sentinel founder Mary Baker Eddy included in its earliest issues, from 1898 forward. During those pioneering years, the periodical's first page (sometimes first two or three pages) was devoted to "hard news" items culled from national and overseas news sources. The items' subjects ranged from war and diplomacy, to business, agriculture, and trade, to scientific subjects such as a full-page report on the discovery of the "Roentgen Ray" (X-rays) in the April 6, 1899, issue.

These republished items also included "exchanges" — denominational news drawn from magazines published by other churches. Even after Mrs. Eddy launched The Christian Science Monitor in 1908, the Sentinel's news item pages continued to be published for several years, well into the second decade of the 20th century.

In restoring "Items" to the Sentinel, our desire was to alert readers to developments of interest to anyone who might want to apply the spiritual insights found in the magazine's other pages to praying about specific issues of national and international import. We will continue to focus on reports showing how the fields of science, theology, and medicine are being leavened by Mrs. Eddy's 1866 discovery and the revival of Christian healing that her discovery launched.

CHICAGO EXTENDS HELPING HAND TO KENYAN VILLAGE

leaders of a local volunteer group gathered [February 12] at the University of Chicago's Rockefeller Chapel to promote public awareness about poverty in Africa and raise $1.5 million for a village in Kenya.

"Over the next four years, we want to create some real relationships between the leadership of Nyandiwa (the village) and the people in our Chicago community," said Tracy Poe, co-chair of Chicago Promise, which spearheads the effort.

One speaker was Jeffrey Sachs, an economist at the Earth Institute at Columbia University and co-founder of the nonprofit Millennium Promise, which is working in more than 70 villages in sub-Saharan Africa to improve living conditions. Nyandiwa is one of the villages selected by the Millennium Promise, based in New York City.

The local effort is unusual for Millennium Promise because it involves a coalition of religious, business, and civic groups, he said. "This effort is the first of its kind," Sachs said.

Poe said the local group, which had its first meeting last year, will approach the public school system to try to create a dialogue between children in Chicago and Kenya.

"We have the opportunity to be able to teach our kids about what it's like to live on the other side of the world," Poe said.

The organization also will solicit funds from private donors and help establish Internet communication in the village, located in western Kenya.

"The people in this part of Kenya by and large do not have a lot of education," Poe said. "Their voices are not heard that much. This will help them connect to the rest of the world."

Michelle S. Keller

"City coalition plans to aid village in Kenya"
February 13, 2007

© 2007 Chicago Tribune Company. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

BBC JUMPSTARTS RELIGIOUS PROGRAMMING LINEUP

IN 2005 the BBC's governors held a seminar, "Taking Belief Seriously," to examine how the BBC could better reflect religion and belief in the world and attract wider audiences. Those present included the Chairman Michael Grade, the DirectorGeneral Mark Thompson, the author Karen Armstrong, the comedy writer Armando Iannucci, and the dramatist Tony Marchant.

As BBC TV's commissioning editor for arts, performance, and religion, Adam Kemp is responsible for commissioning programmes across BBC One, Two, Three, and Four. Religion, he says, is now a subject that broadcasters cannot ignore. "Religion and faith are right at the forefront of our agenda. And not just for people involved in religious programmes, but also those involved in current affairs. Religion was once seen as a little bit of a backwater in television, not one of the hottest genres, like science and history. But not any more." . . .

[Kemp] concedes that the BBC had often lacked imagination in its approach to religion. "We have now seen a sea change at the BBC. I feel we are in second or third gear now, but there's a lot more to come. There's rarely a programme maker who doesn't want to engage in a conversation about religion.

"Religion is a really exciting genre to play with. You have the most extraordinary history, but it's living here and now. In the past we probably failed to find the most imaginative ideas to present religious experiences. . . ."

Many people who don't know much about Christianity and religion in general are hungry to fill in gaps in their knowledge, he suggests. Future programmes include Rageh Omaar reporting from inside Iran, and series on the history of Christianity and Protestantism.

Nick Stuart, chief executive officer of CTVC, which specialises in religious TV documentaries, believes some in broadcasting have had a blind spot about religion. "To many TV execs who went to university in the 1960s and 1970s religion was written off as authoritarian, intellectually backward, and, worst of all, uncool — in other words the kiss of death for TV."

Of course, the rise of fundamentalism in Islam has forced such executives to take religion seriously. But Stuart does not think this is the only factor in the religious revival in TV. "There's also a new breed of younger commissioning editors who actually get it. They realise that religion in all its aspects, not just fundamentalism, is a source of good, powerful stories — good programme material."

Greg Watts

"Putting the drama back into believing; The BBC's religious
broadcasting has found a new energy and ambition"
The Times, London, January 27, 2007

AMERICAN MAJORITY SAYS 'FAITH PROVIDES MEANING AND PURPOSE'

ACCORDING TO THE SPIRITUAL State of the union [survey], which Gallup did for the West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Spiritual Enterprise Institute, 40 percent of Americans say they are spiritual but not religious, an increase of 10 percentage points since 1999. The survey also found that 77 percent of Americans think of spirituality more in a "personal and individual sense" than in terms of "organized religious and church doctrine."

The survey found 82 percent of respondents said they believe in God, while 13 percent believe in a universal spirit of a higher power. Seventy-four percent of respondents described themselves as Christian; 6 percent cite a non-Christian tradition; and 18 percent cited no religious tradition.

Seventy percent say their faith provides meaning and purpose to life, the survey found.

"This in-depth study, which examined the role of spiritual commitment on many facets of life, as well as society as a whole, makes it abundantly clear that one can't understand America unless one has an awareness and understanding of her spiritual underpinnings," said an analysis of the study released January 30.

Renee K. Gadoua
"Survey reveals a more spiritual America"
The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York)
February 10, 2007