Members of the Tennessee-based 917 Society celebrated Constitution Day Friday. This year, 917 Society members emphasized that Americans should pause to realize that they are perhaps less divided than the media makes out.
Read the full story
Prior to Turning Point USA Nashville’s Debate Watch Party on Thursday, Belmont University’s College of Theology Assistant Professor David Dark criticized Rocketown for allowing conservatives to speak there.
In a Facebook post, Dark asked his peers to persuade Rocketown to “rethink the decision to host an event like this.”
Read the full story
Members of the Tennessee-based 917 Society celebrated Constitution Day Thursday, and some speakers expressed optimism that more widespread knowledge of the U.S. Constitution can help overcome this country’s current divisions.
917 Society members gathered at the Elks Lodge in Franklin.
Read the full story
NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Tennessee residents overseeing an effort to donate Aitken Bibles to the state’s elementary, middle, and high schools held their inaugural luncheon at a Nashville restaurant on Saturday.
American Bible Project founder Stephen Skelton said the date of the event, September 12, held significance.
Read the full story
Nashville physician Ming Wang is overseeing a new initiative to donate Aitken Bibles to the libraries and history departments of elementary, middle and high schools throughout Tennessee.
“We are not putting this Bible in schools as a piece of religious teaching,” Wang told The Tennessee Star Tuesday.
Read the full story
NASHVILLE, Tennessee–Members of the 917 Society Founders Club held a holiday party at the Nashville offices of physician Ming Wang Tuesday. As reported, the 917 Society exists to improve constitutional literacy among Tennessee eighth graders. And because of the 917 Society, every eighth-grader in Tennessee gets a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Joni Bryan launched the 917 Society just a few years ago. The 917 Society has already given out 35,000 pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution to eighth-graders in Tennessee. At Tuesday’s party, Bryan discussed plans to give out 50,000 more copies of the Constitution in January. Bryan also announced a membership drive. “Right now, everyone is volunteer. We are working toward having staff members,” Bryan said. “We are hoping to raise $250,000 so we can have five staff members. That is our big goal for the next year.” Also at the gathering, Bryan and Wang presented a Founders Cup Award to State Senator Kerry Roberts, R-Springfield, for his work on behalf of the 917 Society. As reported, members of the group pass out copies of the U.S. Constitution to eighth-grade students right before they go to high school and about four years before they start voting. Eighth-grade is…
Read the full story
NASHVILLE, Tennessee — The Republic still stands exactly 231 years to the day after the Founding Fathers signed the U.S. Constitution. But, as Michael Patrick Leahy, editor in chief of The Tennessee Star said Monday at an event emceed by State Senator Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield), “Constitutional literacy is pretty low right now.” That’s one of the reasons the 917 Society exists – to help improve constitutional literacy among Tennessee eighth graders. More than 200 supporters of the 917 Society gathered at the home of prominent Nashville physician Ming Wang on Monday, Sept. 17, to observe Constitution Day. And because of the 917 Society, every eighth-grader in Tennessee gets a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Joni Bryan launched the 917 Society just a few years ago. Eighth-grade is the year students are supposed to have civics in the U.S. curriculum. Due to the lack of funding and resources, teachers find it difficult to add one more thing to their classroom agenda. That’s where the 917 Society comes in. Their goal is to provide every eighth grader in Tennessee with a copy of the Constitution, in which founder Joni Bryan calls “a rite of passage.” Tennessee is the first state to offer…
Read the full story
FRANKLIN, Tennessee — Most all Tennessee schoolchildren know at least a little about the U.S. Constitution, but members and supporters of the 917 Society say there’s more to be done to help students understand its background and importance. The Nashville area nonpartisan group held a benefit Tuesday evening at the Franklin Theatre to raise money for a project to put the Constitution in the hands of eighth-graders and to complete an educational documentary on the founding document narrated by Nick Clooney, a Kentucky journalist, author and former anchorman. Clooney, father of actor George Clooney and brother of the late singer Rosemary Clooney, attended the event Tuesday with his wife, Nina, to whom he has been married since 1959. In 2004, Clooney made an unsuccessful run in Kentucky for a congressional seat as a Democrat. He is widely respected for his media work and has received an Emmy for commentary and another for historical narration. Attendees at Tuesday’s event were treated to a video featuring Clooney, a skit and a panel discussion. In the video, Clooney said the Founding Fathers “in a brilliant fashion” were able to produce the Constitution through patience and negotiation. “It’s my dictionary of democracy and I have it…
Read the full story
Renowned Nashville eye doctor Ming Wang spoke to Vanderbilt students Friday about his life and work and recent appointment as CEO of U.S. operations for an eye hospital chain in China. The appointment is the latest in Wang’s 15-year relationship with Aier Eye Hospital, the largest private eye group in China with 154 hospitals countrywide. Wang Vision Institute in Nashville will be a flagship for Aier and a training site for doctors. Aier-USA plans to build centers across the U.S. In 2005, Wang performed the first bladeless all-laser LASIK surgery in China at the Aier Eye Hospital in Shanghai. Wang escaped from communist China in 1982 and arrived in the U.S. with only $50 in his pocket. He went on to graduate with high honors from Harvard Medical School and MIT. He also is known as a ballroom dancer and is skilled at playing the Chinese violin. Raised in an atheist family, Wang later became a Christian and has spoken often about how his faith influences his work and involvement in charity. Speaking before an audience at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management, Wang encouraged students to learn all they could about China because of its growing economy. “It is…
Read the full story