Dispatches from the Religious Left in NYC

Please join me for this wonderful event:

On October 14, 2008 at 6:30pm , Middle Collegiate Church, 50 E. 7th Street, will host the book launch celebration of Dispatches from the Religious Left: The Future of Faith and Politics in America-a ground-breaking collection of 19 essays by 22 leading progressive religious figures that seeks to launch a national conversation about how to create and sustain a far more politically dynamic Religious Left in America.

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Dispatches from the Religious Left: The Future of Faith and Politics in America
A Book Launch Celebration

Chris Hedges, Rev. Dr. Jacqueline Lewis, Frederick Clarkson, Rev. Dr. Debra Haffner, Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou
with music by Middle Church Jerriese Johnson Gospel Choir  

Opening with the soul stirrring multicultural and multiracial  40 voice Middle Church Jerriese Johnson Gospel Choir, this riveting evening of discussion will celebrate the revival of the religious left in America.

Moderated by Rev. Dr. Jacqueline Lewis, author, The Power of Stories (Abingdon Press, 2008)  and Senior Minister, Middle Collegiate Church

October 14, 2008
Doors open at 6:30pm

Middle Collegiate Church
2nd Avenue between 6th and 7th Street
50 East 7th Street, New York, New York 10003

The panel will feature Dispatches contributors:

Chris Hedges, award winning journalist and the best-selling author of I Don't Believe in Atheists;

Rev. Dr. Debra Haffner, Director of the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing;

Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou, Associate Minister for Missions, Social Justice and Community Action at Middle Collegiate Church and author of the forthcoming Gods, Gays, and Guns:  Religion and the Future of Democracy (Ig, 2009) .

Frederick Clarkson, Dispatches editor and author of American Theocracy.

Don't miss this important opportunity to learn about the emerging religious left, and discover how liberal and progressive religious voices can begin to influence the religious and political direction of this country! Let us celebrate.  Books will be on sell after the event.  As Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell writes in her introduction, "Finally, the Religious Left has found its voice."

About the Book

Dispatches from the Religious Left: The Future of Faith and Politics in America is a ground-breaking collection of 19 essays by 22 leading progressive religious figures that seeks to launch a national conversation about how to create and sustain a far more politically dynamic Religious Left in America. Edited by Frederick Clarkson, a leading expert on religion and politics, and featuring an introduction by Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell and an afterword by Jeff Sharlet, this important book will be issued by Ig Publishing on October 1st.

"What the Religious Left is doing isn't working!" writes the Rev. Dan Schultz ("Pastordan" of the blog Street Prophets) in his essay.  In his insightful essay, Rev. Osagyefo Sekou challenges us to take a critical look at the prophetic tradition of the African-American church.

Other contributors to this book— former top United Farm Workers organizer (and Harvard professor) Marshall Ganz; Rev. Dr. Katherine Ragsdale, executive director of Political Research Associates;  Rev. Dr. Carlton Veazey, president of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and Rev. Barry Lynn, Executive Director of American United for Separation of Church and State, among others—question and challenge the progressive religious status quo on multiple fronts, revealing what the movement needs to do in order to increase its viability and visibility. "Consider Dispatches from the Religious Left your briefing book on how and why it is important to be a 'courageous leader' in these challenging times," writes Robert Edgar, President of Common Cause and the former General Secretary of the National Council of Churches. 
Editor Frederick Clarkson sees three main themes emerging from Dispatches:
--Religious progressives need to seriously reevaluate where they are going and where they have been in order to live up to their highest aspirations.
--Marketing and public relations are not a substitute for political organizing, which history and hard earned experience shows us is how real progress is made. 
--Religious progressives must never abandon such basic progressive values as reproductive rights, gay and lesbian civil rights and separation of church and state, no matter what political consultants in hot pursuit of seemingly persuadable conservative Catholics and evangelicals may say. Separation of church and state is "woven into their DNA" says essayist Rev. Peter Laarman.