Notes on Religion

TWO years before Tennessee became a state, Roan Creek Church of Christ formed in the mountains of what would become Johnson County.

The Mountain City church, founded 200 years ago, has changed names three times and will celebrate its bicentennial this month. It has nearly 800 members.

Records show that in its history the church excluded people for such sins as bigamy, adultery, drunkenness, cursing, quarreling, dancing, whiskeymaking, and consorting with Methodists.

``We're thrilled and excited about our past,'' says the Rev. Don Bowery of what is now First Baptist Church.

GROUP of religious leaders are trying to inject some spiritual fervor into the environmental movement.

Paul Gorman, executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, says that the religious faithful are the key to guiding the sometimes too-political environmental movement.

``We have planted a seed which cannot help but sprout,'' Mr. Gorman said at the Caring for Creation conference in Kansas City, Mo., a nondenominational event sponsored by the Episcopal Church. ``The real power of this awakening must come from the people in the pews.''