As we look forward to fall, I hope you have our annual conference in your plans. This year’s program spotlights some of the most interesting research taking place in the area of family and religion. How religion influences our well-being will be addressed in a special session jointly sponsored by the Religion and Family Life and Family and Health sections. The title of the session is “Religion and Well-Being: Individual, Marital, and Family Connections.” Outstanding presenters include Loren Marks, Annette Mahoney, Nick Wolfinger, and Frank Fincham. This promises to be a lively and informative session and will take place on Wednesday, October 31, at 8:30 a.m.

Several outstanding proposals were submitted to the Religion and Family Life Section this year. We will be sponsoring two paper sessions and a number of posters. The following papers will be presented on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.:

• “Religion and Transformative Processes in Marriage: A Qualitative Study,” Michael Goodman, David Dollahite, Loren Marks, and Emily Layton
• “Relations Among Risk, Religiosity, and Marital Commitment,” Jonathan Olson, H. Wallace Goddard, and James Marshall
• “The Impact of Well Being and Religion on Women’s Relationship Satisfaction,” by Nichole Huff, Joann Lianekhammy, and Martha Perry
•  “Actions Speak Louder than Beliefs: Religion, Compassion, and Marriage,” Allen Sabey and Amy Rauer.

The following papers will be presented at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday:

• “Does Religious Motivation Influence the Conceptualization and Acceptability of Forgiveness as a Therapeutic Intervention?” Ryan Seedall, Mark Butler, and Jennifer Elledge
• “The Effects of Denomination on Religious Socialization for Jewish Youth,” Anthony James, Ashlie Lester, and Greg Brooks
• “Testing the Transformational Model of Religious Socialization,” Ashlie Lester and David Schramm
• “Familial Relationship Outcomes of Coming Out Atheist,” Benjamin Meyers, Jesse Spencer, Kevin Simonson, and Kevin Zimmerman

It is not too early to start thinking about submitting a proposal for the 2013 annual conference. We would like to see the number of submissions, both professional and SNP, double next year.