To register, email your name, address, and phone number to ivivankovych@yahoo.com by 10 February. Checks should be sent by the same date to St. Sophia Religious Association, 7911 Whitewood Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027.

I. God is real. For billions of people on this planet, God is more than a fact. God is a central factor in their lives, their values, decisions, actions and reactions.

II. God is everywhere. Don’t think of it as the Religion beat. The world is our beat. Worship attendance is 25-40 percent. But belief in God is over 90 percent.

III. God really is in the details. John Ashcroft’s father, a Pentecostal preacher, died the day after his son was sworn into the U.S. Senate. “John,” his father said to him the night before, “I want you to know that even Washington can be holy ground.”

IV. God is the object, not the subject. You don’t have to write about God (or religion) to write about the difference God makes in the way we live.

V. God is good. Behind many if not most stories of hope, struggle, sacrifice, survival, forgiveness, redemption and triumph is someone’s faith.

VI. Don’t just write for the Church Page. God created the world in seven days not one. No need to cram all the God-related copy in one weekly “Faith & Values” section or page. Write for every section. Write for every day of the week.

VII. Don’t take weekends off. Friday night through Sunday night is Game Day for most religious folk. You can’t understand someone’s faith unless you experience the public expression of it.

VIII. Don’t spend too much time in your head. Faith isn’t just expressed. It’s experienced. It’s belief and behavior. It’s intellectual, emotional and, above all, spiritual.

IX. Fear not. Even God had editors. They might not always get what you’re trying to do or say, but keep at it.

X. Forget the flood. Interview God. No matter the story, ask people about their faith and how their faith guides their thoughts’ and actions.

Gillian Lancaster
Web Master