DENVER -
At the first official event Sunday of the Democratic National Convention, a choir belted out a gospel song and was followed by a rabbi reciting a Torah reading about forgiveness and the future.Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun who wrote "Dead Man Walking," assailed the death penalty and the use of torture.Young Muslim women in headscarves sat near older African-American women in their finest Sunday hats.Four years ago, such a scene would have been unthinkable at a Democratic National Convention. In 2004, there was one interfaith lunch at the Democratic gala in Boston.But that same year, "values voters" helped re-elect President Bush, giving Democrats of faith the opening they needed to make party leaders listen to them.
The result was on display at Sunday's interfaith service, staged in a theater inside the Colorado Convention Center, and will be evident throughout the convention agenda and on the sidelines.
There will be four "faith caucus" meetings, blessings to open and close each night, and panels and parties run by Democratic-leaning religious advocacy groups that didn't even exist in 2004 — not to mention protests from religious groups and leaders opposed to the Democratic platform.
Other challenges may come from within. At Sunday's service, Bishop Charles Blake, head of the predominantly black Church of God in Christ and a self-described pro-life Democrat, said Barack Obama should be pressed to "elaborate upon his stated intention to reduce the number of abortions by providing alternative programs."
One hallmark of Democratic faith efforts at the convention is diversity, which might soften objections from party activists wary of the Christian right or any mixing of religion and politics. Behind the scenes, efforts to attract the religious vote will concentrate largely on Christian "values voters
.""If we create or become a mirror image of the religious right, we have failed,"said Burns Strider, who ran religious outreach for Hillary Clinton's campaign and now does faith-based political consulting.
"But if we have increased the number of chairs around the table, ... then we've succeeded."One reason religion is playing such a prominent role at this week's convention is that Obama has made faith outreach prominent in his campaign
."People of faith are being engaged in the convention in a new and robust way ,and it's because of Senator Obama's acknowledgment that people of faith and values have an important place in American public life," said Joshua DuBois, the Obama campaign's religious affairs director. The campaign is giving a platform to people who otherwise would not have been invited to or attended a Democratic convention. One example is Joel Hunter, a moderate evangelical megachurch pastor from Orlando, Fla., who will offer the benediction Thursday, the night Obama accepts the nomination
."Now there's a genuine interest in speaking with groups and religious groups who were previously considered enemies," said Rachel Laser, who works on culture issues for the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way.Laser helped broker compromise language in the Democrats' abortion platform that acknowledges the need to help women who want to keep their pregnancies. Hunter and liberal evangelical leader Jim Wallis were involved, as were new groups such as Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good.Despite all the effort, there is little evidence religious votes are shifting. A Pew poll released last week showed the political preferences of religious voters, including highly sought Catholics and white evangelicals, have scarcely budged since 2004.Catholics are up for grabs, but white evangelicals have become so solidly Republican, Obama has little chance of carving too deeply into the Republican lead, said Allen Hertzke, a University of Oklahoma political scientist
."There still is a possibility that Obama will chip into the Republican advantage with this religious outreach,"((you wish....)) Hertzke said.
"Even if he gains just a few points, that could be decisive in a close election."http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080825/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_democrats_faithPS:THe level of deception these people is IN is breathtaking...There isn't much that can be said about all these DECEIVED people,BUT that THERE IS NO INTERFAITH ACCORD WITHOUT COMPROMISING on ONES BELIEFS....Sorry DNC hopefuls.....TRUE CHRISTIANS WILL NEVER COMPROMISE just to FIT into an INTERFAITH or ECUMENICAL GATHERING oF ANY KIND...You wont see TRUE CHRISTIANS compromising at ANY MOVEMENT of this kind...These people at the DNC have an agenda....believe me...they can care less about people or about your personal beliefs....They just want to get in power....How can these supposedly "christian ladies'sit down there and clap and SUPPORT a candidate like OBAMA that IS PRO INFANTICIDE and PRO ABORTION and then come back to their homes from the DNC go to their homes and kneel and TRY TO PRAY....??????Can you be a christian and at the same time being for DEATH of the UNBORN???SOmething is deadly wrong in this picture.....YEP...it is called DECEPTIONTHE BIBLE IS NOT FOR SALE!!!!!!!!!!!!As in the days of Noah....
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An Iraqi girl with a suicide vest stands against a wall in Baquba in this handout footage from the Iraqi police taken August 24, 2008.
Iraqi police remove a suicide vest from an Iraqi girl in Baquba in this handout photo from the Iraqi police taken August 24, 2008
Iraqi police remove a suicide vest from an Iraqi girl in Baquba in this handout footage from the Iraqi police taken August 24, 2008.
An Iraqi girl speaks with a police officer in Baquba in this handout footage from the Iraqi police taken August 24, 2008.
SOCHI, Russia-
