Briefs: North America - Christianity Today

ABC News will allow Peggy Wehmeyer’s contract to lapse in October. Wehmeyer, the first religion correspondent for a major American television network, reported for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and 20/20 for seven years. The decision was said to be part of a cost-cutting move at ABC. The network also announced an editorial partnership with Beliefnet, a major multifaith provider of religious content on the Internet.

America’s college students have a high regard for family and religion, according to a study commissioned by Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company. The four-year study polled 2,001 college seniors at more than 100 colleges and universities. The students surveyed were the first graduating class of what is being called “Generation 2001”—those born between 1979 and 2001. More than 80 percent say they plan to marry and have three or more children. Jesus Christ topped the list as the individual—living or dead—with whom they would most like to share a meal.

Royce Lambert, a district court judge in Washington, D.C., has blocked the federal government from funding embryonic stem-cell research until the Bush administration completes a review of controversial National Institutes of Health guidelines. The Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing the guidelines, issued last August.

Leon H. Sullivan, an American Baptist pastor and leading spokesman for economic justice and social accountability, died April 25. He was 78. Sullivan, founder of African-African American Summit for business and government leaders, was pastor of Zion Baptist Church in Philadelphia for 38 years. He founded the Opportunities Industrialization Center and the National Progress Association for Economic Development. He created the Sullivan Principles, which played a significant part in opposing apartheid in South Africa.

Bob Davies will retire in September as director of Seattle-based Exodus International, one of the nation’s most prominent and controversial ministries for formerly homosexual men and women. “There are no hidden scandals about to be revealed in my life,” Davies says. “It is time for me to pass the baton on to the next runner, someone with fresh vision, giftings, and enthusiasm to continue the race.” Davies, executive director since 1985, has been involved with Exodus since its founding in 1976. Davies has been married for 16 years.

Charles Shelby Rooks, a leader in the United Church of Christ and in the African-American religious community, died May 19. He was 76. Rooks served as executive vice president of the United Church of Christ’s U.S. mission agency, the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries. Previously he was president of Chicago Theological Seminary, where he was named as the first African American to lead the predominantly white theological school.