ous shelter for independent art, the onlynasylum for the human and intellectualnsubstances that communist totalitarianismndeems its most lethal enemies andnis resolved to eradicate.nThe Religious Heritage AwardnProbably in a moment of contritionnor nostalgia, President Carter namednOctober 6, 1980 as a National Day ofnPrayer. Religious Heritage of America,nInc. took him at his word and, under thenleadership of RHA president W. ClementnStone, planned its 30th AnnualnConvention for that day—thus lendingnsubstance to form.nAmong the award recipients was Dr.nJohn Howard, president of The RockfordnInstitute, who received the OutstandingnEducator Award. The awardnacknowledged Dr. Howard’s three dec­nTournalismnChicago Tribune’s Neophyte SpiritnXhe Chicago Tribune is, so to speak,na liberal convert. Some people can remembernan ideological visage differentnfrom the one which now graces thenpages of “Tempo,” the section devotednto morals and manners. It’s this novicenstanding which forces the Tribune to donthings the New York Times wouldnnever do: the NYT are respectable liberalsnwho need not prove themselvesnfurther. But the Tribune is an arrivistenwho must earn its liberal accreditationnthrough hard exertion. So the Tribunenserializes books that its editors expectnwill enhance the paper’s liberal prestige.nIt culls these books from the bestsellernlist, in itself a suspicious practice.nThen comes a bizarre selectiveness.nBoth Professor Milton Friedman andnMr. Phil Donahue had books on thisnyear’s list and both are Chicagoans, butnonly Mr. Donahue’s book was serialized,ndespite the fact that Mr. Fried­noOinChronicles of Culturenades of educational service characterizednby a strong emphasis on religionnand transcendent values. Among thenspecifics cited were his speeches, articlesnand lay sermons, his activities innbehalf of religious education as a directornof the British Farmington Trust,nthe expansion of campus religious activitiesnduring his tenure as president ofnRockford College, the religious emphasisnin The Rockford Institute’s nationalnconference on the family, and his responsibilitynfor choosing the religiousntheme for the 1980 annual conferencenof the Philadelphia Society and his editorshipnof the book, Belief, Faith andnReason, which is comprised of the lecturesnfrom that conference.nThe Gold Medal Award was presentednto Dr. and Mrs. Norman VincentnPeale in recognition of more than 50nyears of superior achievement in thenministry. Dnman’s defense of capitalism was muchnhigher on the lists and infinitely morenentertaining than Mr. Donahue’s radicalnconfessionalism. Neither Mr. Kissingernnor Mr. Nixon can expect to have theirnbest-selling foreign policy elucidationsnserialized, but Midnight Express, onenof the drug subculture’s most scurrilousnmanifestos, was prominently displayednin “Tempo’s” columns.nThis summer, the Tribune madenavailable to its readers a miserable attemptnto glorify sexual debasement innAmerica. Mr. Gay Talese’s Thy Neighbor’snWife, destined by its Manhattannpublisher to be the blockbuster of thendecade (it was a doleful flop with thenreading public), was serialized in ordernto prove the Tribune’s liberal honor andnallegiance.nThe choice was splendid. Mr. Talese’snoeuvre ought to provide the Trib withna perfect conduit to libcultural recog­nnnnition. It is a book about modern brothelnowners written from the viewpoint ofnbrothel consumers. The brothel is anninstitution which converts sexual feelingsninto money, one which sells sexualnsatisfactions of every variety. Playboynis, in fact, a visual brothel, or perhaps anmedia brothel. Sandstone, the sexualtherapynretreat and Mr. Talese’s contemporarynParadise Regained, is anbrothel in that it perpetuates the agelessnfunction of bordellos, which, in thenMediterranean tradition, have alwaysnbeen credited with wholesome influencesnon man’s ego and psychical balance.nMr. Talese’s book is mean andnugly: it portrays utterly sleazy peoplenand takes the side of the modish wreckersnof sexual standards. It is full of cheapnpretentiousness and endless hints aboutnits own “objectivity,” “research,” “impartialnreporting.” The Tribune didnnot see fit to render any editorial interpretation,ncommentary or sociomoralnevaluation.nNot long ago, the Tribune’s filmnreviewer bitterly bewailed the eradicationnof the vestiges of sensitivity amongnmovie-goers who watch sex-exploitationnpictures. Does the Tribune perceive, anynconnection between Mr. Talese’s pr