As people of faith realize that their spiritual connection transcends ideology and geography, interesting combinations of voices have emerged. For example, megachurch pastor Rick Warren hosting Sen. Hillary Clinton for an HIV/AIDS conference with his Orange County congregation.

It's not sure politicians and pastors who are realigning their priorities, rock stars are doing this as well.

It can be easy to dismiss the rhetoric of these folks, especially in the faith community, a significant number of whom stood silent during the height of the American epidemic during the 80s and 90s. But here is evangelical pastor Rick Warren's website outlaying a "purpose driven" approach to caring for HIV/AIDS patients.

AIDS/HIV hits minority communities especially hard, all around the world. Because of the geographical and minority barriers, the issue often receives little Congressional attention. The Balm In Gilead operates the nation's only HIV/AIDS technical assistance center designed specifically to serve churches as well as public agencies and community-based organizations that wish to work with Black churches on AIDS issues.

Question: Is health care a human right? If so, does the U.S. have a moral obligation to address the AIDS pandemic around the world? What about other diseases? Do you think the focus on HIV/AIDS distracts from other world health concerns?

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 06:50 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (2)

Hillary Clinton apparently rocked the house at Rick and Kay Warren's Global Summit on AIDS and the Church yesterday. Rick discussed Clinton's participation and what it says about evangelicals' political priorities with Harry Smith on CBS' The Early Show (excuse the glitchy first few seconds):

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Hillary Clinton has accepted an invitation to participate in the third annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church later this month at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, and Sam Brownback and Barack Obama spoke at last year's event. Hopefully this is a sign of the continuing political importance of fighting AIDS.

Edwards, Obama, Huckabee, Giuliani and Romney also were invited to the summit but have yet to commit, although all have expressed interest.

Warren says

Inviting politicians from different perspectives to the Summit is not a political decision -- it is a humanitarian and Christian action. When millions are dying each year, we're interested in lives, not labels. We want everyone to become concerned about the AIDS pandemic.

With an endless litany of issues and events to address, presidential candidates are only able to focus on the things we tell them are most important. That's why the Global Summit on AIDS is important -- it helps keep the disease on both parties' political agenda by reminding them how much people of faith care about the plight of the people and nations being destroyed by AIDS.

Clinton should be commended for seizing this opportunity, as should other candidates if they follow suit.

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Around our world 8000 persons die every day from AIDS:

In Africa:

In America:

A message from Bono:

The Rev J.P. Heath of Anerela+ (African Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV/AIDS) talks about his experience of living openly as a person with HIV:

Go beyond the numbers:

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It's an exciting time to be a blogger interested in faith and progressive politics. There are more of us every day (we'll be featuring some of the best here at FPL), and national leaders in our community are becoming more and more aware of how important blogs can be in spreading the good news about their work. With all that energy in the cyber-air, it's almost providential that we get to announce that the first ever Progressive Faith Blog Con is on its way.

The Blog Con will take place from July 14-16 in Montclair, NJ (just outside of New York). It's the brain-child of some of the best minds in our corner of the blogosphere, and will feature Velveteen Rabbi, Mainstream Baptist, Chuck Currie, Pastor Dan of Street Prophets, XPatriated Texan, Talk to Action, Philocrites, CrossLeft, JSpot, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, and many, many more. Check out the site for more details on attending. You won't want to miss it! The buzz about the event is already building here, here, here, here, and, well, you get the point.

We at FPL are thrilled to be working on this, and will be sure to keep you all up to date as the calendar ticks down to July 14. Register now (space is limited!), spread the good word on your blogs, and make sure you're there for this landmark event.

Posted by David Buckley at 05:08 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (3)

Welcome to Faith in Public Life’s corner of the blogosphere! We’re glad to join the hundreds of bloggers out there in this growing and exciting community. Like any responsible new neighbor, we’ll try to make a good first impression, keep the yard looking tidy, and not make TOO much noise.

As you’ve hopefully noticed from the rest of this website, Faith in Public Life isn’t a normal organization. We exist as a resource center for faith communities working for justice and the common good. When we do our jobs right, we provide faith leaders and community members with the tools they need to more effectively carry out their work. When our partners win, we win, so to speak.

In keeping with this mission, this blog won’t be entirely normal either. We’ll feature our share of staff-written content on current events at the intersection of religion and politics, but we’ll spend most of our time featuring the best work of others, in an attempt to build up the strongest voices for justice and the common good in our community.

What does it mean to use a blog to provide resources to the community? We’ll frequently feature cross posts from bloggers whose voices add to the national debate on faith in politics. We’ll have guest blogs from our board members and partners who don’t maintain regular blogs but who are excited by the chance to engage in conversations with this community. We’ll put together a weekly highlight reel of the most interesting posts from far and wide in the faith blogosphere. And we’ll use the blog to post audio and video clips of our partners making an impact in mainstream media outlets.

We hope that this blog can play a role in building up this exciting community. Leave comments, tell us all what you think, and spread the word about Faith in Public Life as a resource center for bloggers who care about faith, justice, and the common good.

Posted by David Buckley at 08:57 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (4)