Faith Digest

GOSPEL SING

HEIRLINE and The Crowns will sing gospel at 7 p.m. Thursday at Silvercrest Baptist Church, 3431 Peach Orchard Road.

On the wagon

The Chuck Wagon Gang will present a concert at 7 p.m. Friday at Martin's Crossroads Congregational Holiness Church, 4458 (Georgia) Highway 220 East in Lincolnton, Ga.

Volunteer training

A 10-week training session for Grace Corps volunteers will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, at the Summerville Professional Center, Room 120, 2258 Wrightsboro Road. Trained volunteers are certified to assist in patient care. Cost is $50, which includes books and materials. The classes are sponsored by The Institute of Religion and Health. Call 722-7656.

Food giveaway

A Manna Truck from Golden Harvest will distribute produce and surplus food at 9 a.m. Jan. 14 at First United Methodist Church, 324 N. Rhodes St. in Union Point, Ga.

No discrimination

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - California State University, San Bernardino, has barred a Christian student group from organizing on campus because it would discriminate against non-Christians and homosexuals.

As in similar disputes on other campuses, the Christian Student Association's proposed constitution included a sexual morality statement and required members and officers be Christians.

The university said it acted under a section of California's education code that says public university student groups cannot exclude people on the basis of religion or sexual orientation.

Ryan Sorba, a student who tried to form the association, accused the university of discrimination against Christians.

"This is about whether the First Amendment is allowed to exist at Cal State San Bernardino and whether or not Christians are allowed to exist," he said.

The Alliance Defense Fund of Scottsdale, Ariz., has sued the California State campuses at Long Beach and San Diego, saying the system forces students to abandon Christian beliefs to obtain benefits other organizations receive.

Women stay home

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Two University of St. Thomas professors quit a trip with students to Australia after their Roman Catholic school required them to book separate rooms.

Ellen Kennedy, 57, and Leigh Lawton, 61, who live together as an unmarried couple, have taken such trips before but this time the school required separate rooms. The couple bowed out last week, saying that pretending to sleep apart would be deceitful, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported.

- From Staff and Wire Reports

REACH US

Contact Tharon A. Giddens, features editor, at (706) 823-3347 or tharon.giddens@augusta chronicle.com.