People

Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which he directs, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 and will share the monetary prize, it was announced in Oslo on October 7. The choice, from among nearly 200 nominees, was lauded by Peter Weiderud, director of the World Council of Churches’ commission on international affairs, who said that the agency “was verifying that Iraq was not a nuclear threat when a preemptive invasion ended their measured [inspections].” Weiderud also said that “control of nuclear arms and technology” is an “incontrovertible recognition of the God-given value of human life.”

The “Ten Commandments Judge,” Roy Moore, announced in October his bid for Alabama’s governorship in 2006. Moore’s decision ended months of speculation that the ousted Alabama Supreme Court chief justice would continue his political career by challenging Governor Bob Riley in the Republican primary. “The time has come to stand up and return the government of Alabama to the people,” said Moore, 58, who is making a long list of promises for reform.

Tim Townsend of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Cathleen Falsani of the Chicago Sun-Times won the top two reporting and writing awards, respectively, given out by the Religion Newswriters Association at its recent annual meeting in Miami. The Chicago Tribune’s “Struggle for the Soul of Islam” got the best-story prize, while the Houston Chronicle’s religion news section edged out a perennial winner, the Dallas Morning News, in that category for large papers.

Retired pastor Nelson Price, a leading conservative among Baptists in Georgia and the Southern Baptist Convention, was named acting trustee chair at Shorter College following a long legal battle that ended with the Georgia Baptist Convention retaining control of the school. Shorter College’s lawsuit against the Georgia Baptist Convention came to an official end October 7, said outgoing chair Gary Eubanks of Marietta. A consent order, based on a Georgia Supreme Court ruling last May in favor of the GBC, disposed of all remaining issues in the protracted legal battle. In a 4-3 decision, the court ruled that trustees of the Baptist college in northwest Georgia acted improperly when they shifted ownership of the college to a newly created foundation with a self-perpetuating board.