Building the Beloved Community’s "Break
the Silence" bus tour will visit Louisville, KY, next weekend, where
they will celebrate Social Justice Sunday in response to the Religious
Right’s teleconference the same day (starring Senate Majority Leader Bill
Frist), which they are calling "Justice Sunday." [4-19-05]
Rev. Albert M. Pennybacker, Coordinator of Building the Beloved Society,
writes:
Friends:
Last Friday, Senator Frist stated that he will appear in a
telecast put together by the Family Research Council that says Democrats are
"against people of faith."
The telecast is a ploy by conservatives to push for
Frist's "nuclear" option and remove the traditional Senate filibuster. The
telecast flier reads, "The filibuster was once abused to protect racial
bias, and it is now being used against people of faith."
In response we have organized Social Justice Sunday. This
will be a public gathering of progressive religious and community
organizations to speak out against the Family Research Council and its
radical Christian Right colleagues to highjack the judicial selection
process for their political/theocratic agenda.
We ask two things of you:
1. Please send a local Louisville contact from your membership to Zev Kanter
at
zevkanter@gmail.com. We need to ensure that the progressive
community turns out in opposition to this cynical telecast and a local
contact among your members will help.
2. Please forward the Social Justice Sunday Invitation to all of your
members in the Louisville and surrounding areas.
Thank you all for your collaboration and your hard work.
Rev. Albert M. Pennybacker, Coordinator
Building the Beloved Society a national coalition for peace and justice in
our world and a responsible society in our country.
Here’s the invitation to this
important local event:
SOCIAL JUSTICE SUNDAY
April 24, 2005
You are invited to a Public Gathering of
Progressive Religious Communities and Progressive Community Groups:
2:30 PM Sunday Afternoon, April 24
Central Presbyterian Church
318 W. Kentucky St. (the corner of Kentucky St. and 4th St.)
Louisville, Kentucky
Phone: (502) 587-6935
Progressive Religious Communities, our
leaders and our community friends are gathering to witness:
OUR OUTRAGE over the attempt by the Family Research Council and its radical
Christian Right colleagues to highjack the judicial selection process for
their political/theocratic agenda
OUR DISMAY Senate Majority Leader, Senator Bill Frist, is lending his name
and influence to the Family Research Council's claim of universal support
from "people of faith" for its strategy, thereby giving false religious
credentials to a thinly veiled political agenda
OUR POSITIVE COMMITMENT to defend and strengthen our social context in its
commitment to fairness for all people, free of biased religious doctrines
and prejudiced attitudes which are inimical to a mature religious
understanding of the standards of inclusiveness and justice in American life
AMONG THE SPEAKERS:
• Rev. Dr. Nancy Jo Kemper, Executive Director, Kentucky Council of Churches
• Rev. Dr. Robert Franklin, Professor, Emory University, Atlanta, former
President, Interdenominational Theological Center, ordained minister, Church
of God in Christ
• Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell. Director, Department of Religion, Chautauqua
Institution, Chautauqua, New York
• Emily Whitehurst, Director of the 100 year old ecumenical council in
Austin, Texas
• Rev. Dr. Albert M. Pennybacker, Chair and Executive Officer, Clergy and
Laity Network (CLN), former NCCC Associate General Secretary for Public
Policy, former Professor, Lexington (KY) Theological Seminary
Please share this invitation with progressive people.
(Note: Casual dress and bring blankets or folding chairs)
For more information please visit Clergy and Laity Network (www.clnnlc.org),
DriveDemocracy (www.drivedemocracy.org)
or Building the Beloved Community (www.buildingbeloved.org).
