There is still time

It is not too late to attend "Recovering Our Voice: Calling Truth in a Culture of Subterfuge"
Sunday, Feb. 11, 2:50-6:30 (+ concert until 7:30)
First Lutheran Church, 646 State St., Albany
(suggested donation - $10)

National experts on the religious right will be at the conference.
Learn about taking back the initiative from the right and from the propaganda think tank, the Institute on Religion and Democracy, that's behind a lot of Christian right actions against mainline churches and their work for peace and justice, separation of church and state, and against the agendas of our local progressive groups.

In addition to the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, five other national experts on the religious right will take part in, or attend, the conference.

They are:

The Rev. Dr. Andrew Weaver, clinical psychologist, associate editor of the United Methodist magazine Zion's Herald, contributor to Talk2Action. org (a site for research on the religious right) and a contributor to the book "Hardball on Holy Ground: the Religious Right v. the Mainline for the Church's Soul", will lead a conference workshop on "Safeguarding Religious Values from Political Manipulation" .

Matt Cherry, the executive director of the Institute for Humanist Studies and president of the United Nations NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion. He will join the diversity panel, "interfaith Dialogue -- Voices of Religious Diversity and Freedom".

Frederick Clarkson, journalist, author and lecturer; a noted researcher and author of books and articles about the religious right; cofounder of Talk To Action.

The Rev. John Dorhauer, nationally known UCC strategist, educator and writer about how churches can deal effectively with religious right intrusions. He will be a guest co-presenter with the Rev. Weaver in the Safeguarding Religious Values from Political Manipulation workshop.

Bruce Wilson, founder of Talk To Action, the online source of information on religious right activities, strategies for dealing with the religious right, and education about the religious right. This is the source many activists, writers, and researchers read and post to, across the country, to keep up with each other and our various activities.

Conference Schedule:

2:00 - 2:50 Registration and Book Signings (and tabling space for organizations )

2:50 - 3:00 Auditorium, Greetings, Information
Bernard Fleishman; President of the The Interfaith Alliance, Capital District chapter

Invocation: The Rev. Vernon Victorson, Pastor, First Lutheran Church Intro. of Keynote Speaker: the Rev John U. Miller, Executive Director, Capital Area Council of Churches

3:00 - 3:45 Auditorium, Keynote Address
The Rev. Dr. Robert Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches: "Middle Church: Reclaiming the Moral Values of the Faithful Majority from the Religious Right"

4:00 - 4:20 Auditorium, Panel responses
Moderator: The Rev. Robert Lamar
Panelists: Islam, Dr. Mussarat Chaudhry; Judaism, Rabbi Aryeh Wineman; Roman Catholicism, Fr. Chris DeGiovine

4:20 - 4:30 Audience questions

4:30 - 4:45 Break

4:45 - 6:15 Breakout Rooms Workshops:
Safeguarding Religious Values from Political Manipulation (Weaver, Dorhauer);

Listening to the Voices of Youth (the Rev. Joyce Hartwell and panel);

Interfaith Dialogue (the Rev. Robert Lamar, moderator; the Rev. James Kane, Rabbi Beverly Magidson, Imam Ahmed Kobeisy, Matthew Cherry);

Media Voices - The Progressive Moral Imperative (Rob Brill, Times Union; Maureen Aumand, Women Against War; the Rev. Jo Page)

6:15 - 6:30 Lounge, Evaluation and closing

Conference sponsors: The Interfaith Alliance, Capital District chapter; The Capital Area Council of Churches; First Lutheran Church; Methodist Federation for Social Action, Troy Conference Chapter; Sidney Albert Interfaith Center of the College of St. Rose; Capital Region Ecumenical Organization; Muslim Community of Troy; Islamic Center of the Capital District; Presbytery of Albany.

6:30-7:30 Concert, bands from the Listening to the Voices of Youth workshop