Religious leaders from across the ideological spectrum are pleased to announce today that Senator Obama and Senator Clinton have both confirmed that they will participate in an unprecedented bipartisan presidential candidate forum at Messiah College near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on the evening of Sunday, April 13 – just nine days before the Pennsylvania primary. Senator McCain has thus far declined the invitation, which is still open.

Now more than ever, Americans motivated by faith are bridging ideological divides to address domestic and international poverty, global AIDS, climate change, abortion, genocide in Darfur, and human rights and torture. The Compassion Forum will provide the opportunity for candidates to discuss how their faith and moral convictions bear on their positions on these important issues.

The Compassion Forum is not a debate. Each candidate will participate in a separate substantive conversation. “This is an occasion to talk about the substance and not the sensationalism of religion and politics,” said moderator Jon Meacham, editor of Newsweek, author of American Gospel, and respected scholar on faith and American politics.