Religion

Philanthropist John Templeton has established two $25,000 prizes to be given yearly to the “most inspiring” motion picture and television program, as selected by the evangelical-oriented Movieguide magazine.

The fourth annual Movieguide Awards Dinner will be held March 13 at the Universal City Hilton Hotel.

Ted Baehr of Atlanta, publisher of the bimonthly magazine, said the Templeton Prizes will be awarded for one movie and one TV program that “best result in bringing the viewer into a closer understanding of and love for God.”

At its 1995 awards dinner, Movieguide judges named “Little Women” the best movie in its family film category and “Forrest Gump” the best for mature audiences.

Baehr said competition for the 1996 Templeton Prizes for Most Inspiring Movies and Television will be open to all feature films and television programs shown in this country in 1995. The $25,000 prizes will go to each winning entry’s “creative team.”

The U.S.-born Templeton, a wealthy investor living in the Bahamas and knighted for his charitable works, is best known for his annual Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, which he began 23 years ago. The award has now grown to $1 million.

A Presbyterian whose wife is Christian Scientist, Templeton has financed other religion-related prizes, including a Templeton Reporter of the Year award given by the Religion Newswriters Assn.

The Templeton Foundation this year began honoring with $10,000 prizes those academic institutions around the world that teach courses on the relationship between religion and science.

Among 97 winners were David Griffin, who taught “Creation and Evolution, Theology and Science,” at the School of Theology at Claremont; Nancey Murphy of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena and Richard Carlson of the University of Redlands, who taught “Theology and Science” at Fuller; and H. Newton Malony, who taught “Introduction to Integration”at Fuller’s School of Psychology.

OPENINGS

* The nonsectarian Rosemead Buddhist Monastery and Library will officially open its newly constructed facilities Sunday with an 11 a.m. ceremony. The main shrine hall contains more than 1,000 Buddha statues, the largest of which recently arrived from Myanmar, formerly Burma. “This white marble statue weighing over 6,000 pounds is a classic example of Burmese sculpture,” said the Venerable Chao Chu, abbot of the monastery at 7833 Emerson Place in Rosemead. On Monday and Tuesday, a Buddhist art exhibit and open house will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Information: (818) 280-9077.

* A Hindu group that purchased the small Valley View Baptist Church in Northridge this year will reopen the building at 18700 Roscoe Blvd. on New Year’s Day. Only the second Hindu temple in the San Fernando Valley, the geodesic-dome structure now holds at least 17 statues of Hindu deities, said Bal Sarad, a spokesman for the group, the Hindu Temple Society of California. Ceremonies will begin at 10 a.m. and food will be provided all day, Sarad said. Information: (818) 772-7736.

PEOPLE

* The congregation of Pastor Rick Warren has continued to grow, despite meeting in 79 different locations in Orange County since its beginning in 1980. For the last three years, the congregation has met under a tent. But on Sept. 17, nearly 12,000 people filled three dedication services in Lake Forest for Saddleback Valley Community Church’s first permanent building--a 36,000-square-foot facility with giant projection screens and mountain views. Warren, a Southern Baptist minister, hardly needed more evidence that he was doing something right, but in addition, the upcoming issue of Preaching magazine has picked Warren’s “The Purpose-Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission,” published by Zondervan, as one of the top 10 books of 1995.

* The Rev. Fletcher A. Harding, the founder and pastor of the 2,000-member Encino Community Church in Tarzana until his 1977 retirement, died Dec. 16 at the age of 83. Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. Jan. 6 at Pierce Brothers Mortuary in Camarillo.

CONGREGATIONS

Pacific Beach United Methodist Church in San Diego County has become the 100th congregation in that denomination to pledge itself as a “reconciling congregation” as part of a nationwide, multidenominational program that publicly welcomes all people to church regardless of sexual orientation. Other Southern California United Methodist churches in the program are located in Ocean Park in Santa Monica, Crescent Heights in West Hollywood, the Wilshire area of Los Angeles, the USC campus, Claremont, Hollywood, Malibu and Toluca Lake.

GRANT

Azusa Pacific University’s Urban Campus in Watts, which opened in September, has received a $353,000 grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to expand its degree programs for Latino clergy and church leaders. The grant will permit the start of a program leading to a bachelor’s degree in Christian leadership for working students. The campus already has 36 students studying for a master of arts in pastoral studies. Information: (818) 812-3049.

DATES

* Singers Crystal Lewis and Margaret Becker, the group Audio Adrenaline and the “righteous dance” music of N-Soul Records’ Scott Blackwell will be featured at Praise ‘96, a contemporary Christian music festival on New Year’s Eve at Knott’s Berry Farm. The event starts at 7 p.m. and ends at 2 a.m. Tickets are $23 and include park admission.

* Author Chaim Potok, whose novels include “The Chosen,” “The Gift of Asher Lev” and most recently “I Am the Clay,” will be a weekend scholar-in-residence Jan. 12-14 at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley.

Other guest scholars scheduled for the weekend programs are radio talk show host Dennis Prager, who was the institute director from 1976 to 1983, on March 22-24; former New York Times religion writer Ari Goldman, April 19-21; and political scientist Shlomo Avineri of Hebrew University of Jerusalem, May 10-12. Information: (805) 582-4450.

* The Rev. Bill Hybels, pastor of the huge Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., is among ministers speaking at the annual Robert H. Schuller Institute for Successful Church Leadership Jan. 22-25 at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. Other speakers include the Rev. Walt Kallestad of the Community Church of Joy in Glendale, Ariz., and the Rev. Juan Carlos Ortiz of the Crystal Cathedral, as well as Schuller himself. Registration is $45. Information: (714) 971-4343.

* California Lutheran University’s Winterbreak Theological Conference Jan. 24-25 will feature, among others, biblical scholar Phyllis Trible of Union Theological Seminary in New York and church historian James A. Nestingen of Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. Trible will give two lectures on “Feminist Interpretation of the Bible.” Tuition is $45 if registered by Jan. 15; thereafter $60. Information: (805) 493-3228.

FINALLY

Stress from the year-end holidays may exact a delayed bodily and mental toll, says clinical psychologist David Stoop, director of the Psychological Center at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.

“Most of us are too busy to get depressed in December,” Stoop said. “The psychologists I know see the greatest influx of new patients in February, after the excitement is over and the bills settle in.”

Mary Beth Freeman, administrative director of Fuller Psychological and Family Services, a clinic of the seminary’s Psychological Center, has some tips to avoid post-holiday blues.

Among them: Don’t assume that you alone are responsible for making the holiday a success. If lonely, reach out to a friend, who may surprisingly be lonely too. Be kind to your body by enjoying treats in moderation and exercising. Share recollections of things you were thankful for in 1995 with a friend. If you share the same faith, pray with each other.