DATE: Saturday, September 13, 1997          TAG: 9709120056

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

                                            LENGTH:   78 lines

RELIGION NEWS AND NOTES

Tibetan monks to begin

creating mandala

Tibetan Buddhist lamas on Sunday will begin creating a mandala, an intricate colored sand painting, at the main gallery of the Arts Center in Portsmouth.

All week the monks will continue the painstaking process of creating the sand painting, concluding Sept. 20. During the closing ceremony, the mandala will be destroyed, representing the impermanence of life, and the sands will be distributed to the audience or thrown into the Elizabeth River.

The opening ceremony begins Sunday at 2 p.m. Accompanying exhibits on Tibet and its culture also are continuing at the Arts Center, in the 1846 Courthouse Building at Court and High streets.

Also on Sept. 20 at 10 a.m., artist Philip Sugden will hold a workshop showing how to create a personal mandala.

Operation Blessing

will give out food

Operation Blessing will give away food and clothing to the needy from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach.

Organizers estimate they will have enough food for 2,500 families, given out on a first-come, first-serve basis. Tidewater Foodwagon, several local churches and other groups helped provide the food and clothing.

Legislator will seek

religious freedom act

Virginia may become the first state to consider new guidelines on government regulation of religious practices in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling in June.

Prompted by a recent controversy over rules restricting churches feeding the homeless, Del. A. Donald McEachin of Richmond said he will introduce a bill to expand the rights of religious organizations when lawmakers convene for the 1998 session.

The law is an effort to set high standards for government to meet before regulating churches. Religious leaders felt those standards were contained in the 3-year-old federal law known as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but it was struck down in June when the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional. The court said such regulation should be left to the states.

McEachin has been joined in his proposal by the Christian Coalition and the Virginia Assembly of Independent Baptists. In addition, both the Republican and Democratic candidates for governor - James S. Gilmore III and Donald S. Beyer Jr. - have endorsed the proposal.

Stop-smoking seminar

offered in Chesapeake

A free seminar to help people stop smoking will be offered next week in Chesapeake at Tidewater Adventist Academy, 1136 N. Centerville Turnpike.

Sponsored by the American Cancer Society and the Chesapeake Seventh-Day Adventist Church, the ``Breathe Free'' seminar will be held Tuesday from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

To pre-register, call 467-3451. There is no charge for the seminar, but voluntary contributions will be accepted afterward to defray the costs of future seminars.

Catholic diocese

announces local grants

Bishop Walter F. Sullivan, head of the Catholic Diocese of Virginia, recently announced that grants totaling $49,875 have been awarded to agencies dealing with the dignity of human life.

The ``Respect Life'' grants included several South Hampton Roads agencies: Birthright of Norfolk, Catholic Charities of Hampton Roads, Candii House, Mother Seton House in Virginia Beach, and the Mary Ellen Cox Center for Elder Care in Virginia Beach.

A pregnancy solutions hotline at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Newport News also received a grant.

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