wfn.org | Obama names Shaw to Religious Freedom Commission

["Philip Jenks" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

President Obama names Rev. Dr. William J. Shaw
to International Religious Freedom Commission

Washington, June 29, 2010 -- The Rev. Dr. William J. Shaw, a former  member of 
the National Council of Churches Governing Board and immediate  past president 
of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., has been  named to the U.S. 
Commission on International Religious Freedom by  President Obama. 

Shaw, who has been pastor of White Rock Baptist Church in Philadelphia  since 
1956, also served as a member of the President's Advisory Council  on 
Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. 

He served on the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund and is currently a member of  the 
board of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Shaw has served as president of the Baptist Minister's Conference of  
Philadelphia and Vicinity, the Metropolitan Christian Council of  Philadelphia, 
and the Union Theological Seminary National Alumni  Association. 

 From 1981 through 1994, Dr. Shaw served as Director of the Ministers'  
Division of the National Congress of Christian Education. He has been  the 
recipient of numerous awards, including most recently, the Unitas  Award, given 
by the Alumni Association of the Union Theological Seminary  and the T. B. 
Maston Foundation Christian Ethics Award from the  Southwestern Baptist 
Theological  Seminary.                          

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of  Christ in 
the USA has been the leading force for ecumenical cooperation  among Christians 
in the United States. The NCC's 36 member faith groups  - from a wide spectrum 
of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical,  historic African American and 
Living Peace churches - include 45 million  persons in more than 100,000 local 
congregations in communities across  the nation.

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office),  646-853-4212 
(cell), pjenks@ncccusa.org