Faith and Hoops: Check out Sports Illustrated
I know anytime someone in Oklahoma City talks about basketball these days, the conversation is focused on the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA team.
However, there’s another interesting story about hoops in Sports Illustrated. 
This week’s Sports Illustrated cover story features a basketball star who has been called “the best high school basketball player since LeBron James.”
The magazine story talks about Jabari Parker’s hoops aspirations of course, but his faith is a significant part of the article.
Parker is a junior at Simeon Career Academy in Chicago and he is a Mormon.
A news release about the cover story said the article shares about Parker’s comittment to his faith: ”Parker wakes up each morning at five and says a prayer, and three days a week, he is at Bible study at 5:30. Parker also accompanies a bishop of his church on visits to the sick, the poor and the elderly — an assignment designed to teach young men the importance of service and self sacrifice.”
“I realize why I’m in the position I’m in right now. It’s not because of me. It’s because of God,” Parker told SI contributing writer Jeff Benedict who wrote the story.
I’ve read the story and it’s an interesting article about how faith has made an impact on this young man’s life. I just wrote a story for The Oklahoman about local high school students who are Mormons. The students gather together between 5 and 6 a.m. several days during the week for an international Bible study program simply called Seminary. It looks like Parker is participating in the same program.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Dallas pastor Jeffress speaks out
Last week, I talked to a local Southern Baptist leader and a Mormon leader about a political flap that resulted from a remark a Southern Baptist pastor in Dallas said at a political function. 
Controversy arose when the Rev. Robert Jeffress (pictured), pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, said that Mormonism is a cult. He made the statement at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C.
This week, Jeffress addressed the controversy surrounding his statement through a Washington Post op-ed piece. The op-ed is entitled “Why a candidate’s faith matters.”
Jeffress wrote: “Hearing Mitt Romney’s surrogate Bill Bennett refer to me as a bigot and Jon Huntsman call me a “moron” last week after my controversial comments on Mormonism, amid calls for civility and tolerance in public discourse, reminds me of the exclamation: “We will not tolerate intolerance!” But beyond the personal insults, I am concerned that these men are attempting to prematurely marginalize religion as a relevant topic in elections.”
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For those interested in reading the full piece, I’m including a link to the op-ed here: “Why A Candidate’s Faith Matters.”
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
P.S.
I was very appreciative of the local Southern Baptist leader, the Rev. Anthony Jordan, and Mormon leader Kevin Graves, for sharing their viewpoints with me for my Oct. 15 story. This was a touchy subject for a lot of reasons and both men showed why they are in the leadership positions they are in by agreeing to make statements for the story. And a special, special thanks to Mark McClellan from Oklahoma Baptist University. I can’t say enough about his help. His contribution to the Oct. 15 story package gave some much-needed context to the original story, which included the views of Jordan and Graves.
