At the Democrats' party, a Pentecostal minister

[babylonsister]

I know some people are skeptical about embracing people of religion in our party. I'm not religious, but I can see how smart this is. Combine that with people of religion and values, and it works for me.

At the Democrats' party, a Pentecostal minister

By ERIC GORSKI



DENVER (AP) -- The request befuddled Leah Daughtry. The experienced political hand in charge of planning next month's Democratic National Convention - a self-described "black chick from Brooklyn" and ordained Pentecostal minister who keeps a Bible in her purse - didn't know what to tell the atheists.

Daughtry, 44, was preparing for an Aug. 24 interfaith service that will open the Democrats' gathering here - a first for a party that hasn't always gotten God. Before her was an angry letter from a secularist group that wanted to know whether atheists would be on the podium.

"Atheists speaking at an interfaith service ... does that work?" Daughtry asked this week. "I don't quite know. But they're part of the party, you treat them with respect. I'll give them an answer."

On a larger scale, it's what Daughtry and a growing number of Democrats of faith are setting out to do: hold together and grow their party by claiming ground on religion and values that Republicans have successfully mined for years.

The presumptive Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, has incorporated faith themes and outreach into his campaign since the primaries began. A new political action committee, Matthew 25, is running pro-Obama ads on Christian radio. "People of faith" will have a caucus of their own at the convention, just as blacks, Hispanics and military veterans do.

Such efforts come with challenges, including answering nonbelievers, Democrats uncomfortable with any mingling of church and state, and religious Americans at odds with Democratic positions on social issues.

"All Americans, all people, have values," said Daughtry, a fifth-generation minister. "For some of us, values come from faith. For others it comes from what your parents taught you, what your grandmother taught you on the porch in the summertime. These are values that make us Democrats. We all have them."

Daughtry, Howard Dean's chief of staff at the Democratic National Committee, was tapped last year as chief executive officer of the Democratic National Convention Committee. More accustomed to working behind the scenes, she has adopted a more public role that has taken her from speaking at a Denver synagogue to witnessing the installation of a Mormon church president in Salt Lake City.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/REL_DEMOCRATS_MINISTER?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[goodgd_yall]

1. As long as they don't preach against the GLBT community

I'm OK with it too.

[babylonsister]

2. As long as they don't preach against ANY community, I'm good

with it. Better yet, no preaching, to anyone.

[mloutre]

3. "more" where? linky, plz

[babylonsister]

5. Oops, thanks, and here:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/REL_DEMOCRATS_MINISTER?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[patrice]

4. Though OFTEN wrong, Religion isn't NECESSARILY wrong. nt

[Cha]

6. That's right..there's good people who

have religion and good people who don't.