The Democratic party's first-ever faith caucus began this afternoon, with Jim Wallis moderating two panels -- one on the meaning of the common good, the other on faith-based initiatives and community partnerships.

The former included FPL board member Sue Thistlethwaite, Rev. Jennifer Kottler, Rabbi Jack Moline, Rev. John Hunter, former Congressman Tim Roehmer, and Rev. Wilfredo DeJesus. Each speaker touched on different aspects of the faith community's common good, common ground agenda. They tackled high-profile compassion issues such as immigration reform and abortion reduction (from both pro-choice and pro-life perspectives) but also spoke about economic justice, criminal justice reform and education from a faith perspective.

The second panel featured Rabbi David Saperstein, Rev. Otis Moss III and John DiIulio, and provided the most incisive commentary I've heard about the government's involvement in and funding of faith-based initiatives.

I found the diversity of ideas encouraging. Sue and Tim disagree with each other about abortion, but their different emphases and beliefs inspire similar goals. Some speakers, such as Tim and Obama campaign religious outreach chair Joshua Dubois, were overtly partisan, while others, such as John Hunter, focused more closely on particular issues but complimented Obama's stance on them, and still others such as Jim Wallis, David Saperstein and John DiIulio were assiduously nonpartisan.

The audience was as interesting as the panel. Five rows to my right was Congressman Bobby Scott, four rows behind me sat Tony Campolo, and Michael Lerner sat between me and the stage. At the end of the caucus, Joshua asked all clergy to stand, and no less than twenty rose from their seats. He then asked everyone who worked for religious nonprofits to rise and be recognized, and just as many stood. As interesting as the content of the gathering was, the auspicious crowd reflected that the fact of the event was far more significant.