Religion briefs around the state

Decker to speak at Unitarian forum

"Did Jesus Found Christianity? Putting Christianity Into Context" will be presented by Sonja Decker, Member of the Board of Trustees, First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City, on Sunday, Aug. 1, 10 a.m., at 569 S. 1300 East.

This is part of the church's continuing summer forum. For more information, go to www.slcuu.org.

Blessed Sacrament plans Fall Festival

The Blessed Sacrament Catholic Parish and School Fall Festival will be Aug. 28-29 at 9757 S. 1700 East.

This event is open to the public. There will be a road race, care show, food, carnival, auction, bingo and more.

For more details, call 801-571-5517.

Southeast Baptist picnic is Sunday

Southeast Baptist Church, 7000 S. 1700 East, will hold its summer church picnic on Sunday following the 11 a.m. worship service.

The church picnic will be at Butler Park, 7500 S. 2700 East, with fellowship, food and entertainment. Inflatable toys will be available from the early part of the afternoon.

For more information, call 801-943-2241.

Knowles Collection expands again

A valuable resource for Jewish genealogical research has expanded to include records from all over the world.

The popular Knowles Collection from FamilySearch is a free database connecting Jewish records of 115,000 people in 30 countries. The combining of those records into one collection makes it easier for researches to find family sources.

Todd Knowles started the database in 2007 to help him find his own Jewish ancestry. The collection began with 6,500 records from the British Isles but has now rapidly expanded into five geographically-based databases with over 115,000 names.

The Knowles Collection is compiled from over 200 different sources that have been transcribed and combined by volunteers.

The entire collection is linked electronically as families and fully searchable on FamilySearch's Community Trees project, found at histfam.familysearch.org.

Organ festival slated at cathedral in S.L.

"Organ Fest III," part of a series to celebrate the 50th anniversary of KBYU radio (FM-89.1/89.5), is planned for Friday, Aug. 6, at 8 p.m. at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, 309 E. South Temple.