BAD NEWS?: When the news media doesn’t...

BAD NEWS?: When the news media doesn’t describe a religious event or issue the way you think it should have--in fact, when the story is given a negative twist from the religious institution’s point of view--”you just move on to other stories that are positive,” a Mormon public-relations expert advises.

Keith Atkinson, California public affairs representative for the Mormon Church, told a workshop at the national Religious Public Relations Council’s annual meeting in Universal City Friday that if it is an ongoing story, the religious institution may need to bring its people together to map out a strategy to get its viewpoint across.

But “usually the news media want your side of the story,” said Atkinson, who was met with agreement on that point from his fellow panelists: William Rivera, who for six years handled media relations for Catholic Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, and Salam Al-Marayati, director of the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council.

The council will conclude its three-day meeting tonight with an awards banquet at the Odyssey restaurant in Granada Hills. Producer Ken Wales of the “Christy” television series will be given a lifetime achievement award along with other previously announced winners.

The organization also unveiled a fifth, expanded edition of its Handbook for Religion Communicators at the meeting. It is available by writing to RPRC Handbook, P.O. Box 222198, Dallas, Tex. 75222. The cost is $12.95 per copy plus $3 for shipping.

McCARTNEY TO PREACH: Football coach Bill McCartney, who resigned last year as head coach at the University of Colorado despite another successful season that included winning the Fiesta Bowl, will preach at all three services of Van Nuys’ Church on the Way this weekend.

McCartney founded the Promisekeepers, a fast-growing movement among Christian men featuring mass rallies and emphasizing men’s responsibilities toward wives, children and others within an evangelical perspective.

Last year he announced that he would resign his coaching post to take at least a year to spend more time with his family.

The Rev. Jack Hayford, senior pastor of the 8,000-member church, is turning over his pulpit during services at 7 p.m. today and at 9 and 11 a.m. Sunday.

An announcement in the Church on the Way bulletin described McCartney, who is not an ordained minister, as one of “today’s most significant spiritual leaders” and a man of “manly godliness.”

ATHEIST CONVENTION: The inaugural three-day convention of the Atheist Alliance, an attempt to join disparate groups of nonbelievers and ardent secularists into a national organization, will begin April 14--the Easter weekend--at Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn in North Hollywood.

Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Los Angeles, will be the opening night banquet speaker, addressing the theme of civil rights in the 21st Century.

Activist attorney Eddie Tabash of Los Angeles will appeal in a Saturday talk for a coalition of like-minded groups seeking to preserve church-state separation, according to the convention host, Atheists United, a Southern California group based in Sherman Oaks.

Other speakers include Howard Kreisner, editor of Secular Nation magazine; Dan Barker, public-relations director for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and Sharon Presley, director of the Institute for Critical Thinking.

For more information, call Atheists United at (818) 785-1743.

BENEFIT CONCERT: A benefit choir performance for the Serra AIDS Project will be given at 7:30 p.m. today at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, 10828 Moorpark St., North Hollywood.

Tickets are $5 for adults; $3 for seniors and children. For more information, call (818) 766-3838.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Sunday morning starts early for a growing number of evangelical churches that have added Saturday evening services to their weekend worship schedules. One such congregation is West Valley Community Church at 19000 Saticoy St., Reseda, whose pastor is the Rev. Steve Whitney.

The 6:30 service is held in what a church announcement calls a “casual, relaxed atmosphere.” The regular Sunday service is at 11 a.m. For more information, call the church at (818) 343-1400.

SUNRISE SERVICES?: Sponsors of community Easter sunrise services held away from church grounds--at parks or cemeteries, for instance--may submit information on those early rites by mail or fax for a listing of such events in The Times on April 15. See address and telephone number below.