Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) his new role as the House majority whip.
James E. Clyburn, a former teacher and employment counselor, is a leader among African-American Congressmen and served as Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
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DEMOCRATIC PARTY leaders and progressive religious activists are persevering in their separate but complementary efforts to shape a connection between faith and polities.
"It's a miracle that we stayed together after the election," said Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, referring to an ongoing "movement" among like-minded faith activists.
Edgar, a United Methodist minister and former congressman, said that every Thursday a telephone conference call takes place involving about 40 progressive religious figures, including Jim Wallis of the Call to Renewal movement, James Forbes of New York's Riverside Church, Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance and David Saperstein, a Reform rabbi in Washington, D.C. The discussions, which began around Labor Day, are hosted by the Washington-based Center for American Progress (CAP), founded in 2003 by John Podesta, who was chief of staff at the Clinton White House. The sessions are coordinated by CAP senior fellow Melody Barnes, a former counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy.
The Democrats twice added religious advisers, then suddenly pulled back on each of them. In June, not long after Kerry's team appointed Mara Vanderslice, a socially liberal evangelical, as director for religious outreach, party officials told her not to talk to the press. In August the DNC's newly named senior adviser for religious outreach, Brenda Bartella Peterson, a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister, was asked to resign after only eight days on the job.
Both steps were taken after William Donohue, head of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, fired off news releases pointing to issues in the two appointees' pasts. "Why are Kerry and the DNC imploding on religion?" Donohue asked. "Because too many of the elites running the show are devout secularists who put a premium on freedom from religion."
