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This was sent via email to a mass list by someone I know. It's a great FReep opportunity. A Community of Conscience is gathering across our country! In a witness to the nation it will convene at the Riverside Church in New York City, on April 4, 2005. The date reclaims the great antiwar sermon by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence!" For too long, attacks on freedom and justice by religious voices from the right have gone effectively unanswered. Greed, fear and imperialism have been endorsed. Beginning now, progressive religious communities are organizing....

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign has hired a new director of religion outreach, who is being described by a Catholic group as "a curious choice." Mara Vanderslice, who formerly worked as religion outreach director for Democrat Howard Dean, was raised without any faith and didn't become an evangelical Christian until she attended Earlham College, a Quaker school known for its adherence to pacifism, the Catholic League said on Monday. According to Catholic League President William Donohue, when Vanderslice was in college she was active in the Earlham Socialist Alliance, a group that supports convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal and...

Frustrated that they continue to be overshadowed by conservative religious leaders, a new association of politically liberal clergy has emerged. Mostly comprised of old National Council of Churches (NCC) types, the Clergy Leadership Network (CLN) will focus on opposing U.S. military action and fighting for a larger federal welfare state, while criticizing religious conservatives. Several of CLN's leaders were also formerly leaders in the Interfaith Alliance, another liberal religious group founded ten years ago with the nearly identical purpose of counteracting the "Religious Right." "We're reaching beyond non-partisanship to engage issues of public life," declared the Rev. Albert Pennybacker, a...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — In an effort to counter the influence of conservative Christian organizations, a coalition of moderate and liberal religious leaders is starting a political advocacy organization to mobilize voters in opposition to Bush administration policies. The nonprofit organization, the Clergy Leadership Network, plans to formally announce its formation on Friday and will operate from an expressly religious, expressly partisan point of view. The group cannot, under Internal Revenue Service guidelines, endorse political candidates, and it will have no official ties to the Democratic Party. But the driving purpose of the organization, according to its mission statement, is...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) -- Aiming to become the Christian Coalition of the left, liberal and moderate religious leaders are founding a political group to oppose President Bush's re-election and try to turn their congregations into election-year activists.</p> <p>The Clergy Leadership Network will help churches, temples and mosques develop voter registration programs, run its own get-out-the-vote drives and, if it can generate enough money, air issue ads, the Rev. Albert Pennybacker, the group's president and chief executive and former president of the Interfaith Alliance, said Friday.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) - Mixing preaching with politics, several liberal and moderate religious leaders have started a political group to oppose President Bush's re-election and policies. The Clergy Leadership Network will help churches, temples and mosques develop voter registration programs, run its own get-out-the-vote drives and, if it has enough money, air issue ads, said the Rev. Albert Pennybacker, the group's president and chief executive. He is former president of the Interfaith Alliance. The group, which includes Jews, Muslims and Christians, will counter the conservative voice of Christian groups such as the Christian Coalition, said Pennybacker, who belongs to the Disciples...

New Clergy Group to Push Liberal Causes by Mark Tooley Posted Jan 9, 2004 Frustrated that they continue to be overshadowed by conservative religious leaders, a new association of politically liberal clergy has emerged. Mostly comprised of old National Council of Churches (NCC) types, the Clergy Leadership Network (CLN) will focus on opposing U.S. military action and fighting for a larger federal welfare state, while criticizing religious conservatives. Several of CLN's leaders were also formerly leaders in the Interfaith Alliance, another liberal religious group founded ten years ago with the nearly identical purpose of counteracting the "Religious Right." "We're reaching...