RELIGION EXPERT GIVES BICENTENNIAL TALK

Martin E. Marty, an expert on religion in America, is the featured speaker Thursday for the Cape Girardeau Bicentennial Lecture Series.

The lecture series is sponsored in part by the Baptist Student Center at Southeast Missouri State University.

Marty is the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Modern Christianity at the University of Chicago.

He is the author of 40 books, including "Righteous Empire," winner of the 1972 National Book Award. Marty of Riverside, Ill., also is senior editor of the weekly journal, "The Christian Century," and helps edit other religious publications.

Marty will lecture on spirituality at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at St. Mark Lutheran Church, 1900 Cape LaCroix Rd. At 3:30, he'll discuss "trends and directions in religion in America" at the University Center Ballroom at Southeast Missouri State Missouri.

An evening lecture on the religious history of Southeast Missouri will begin at 7 at Academic Auditorium on campus, followed by a reception at 8 at the university museum in Memorial Hall.

All lectures are free and open to the public.