DNC organizers reassure Denver's faith community

On Aug. 24, the eve of the Democratic National Convention's opening gavel, the convention committee will hold its first official kickoff event - a huge Sunday afternoon gathering dedicated to religious inclusiveness and diversity.

Final plans for the event in the 5,000-seat Wells Fargo Theatre will be announced soon, said DNCC spokesperson Natalie Wyeth.

Since the early planning stages of the convention, Democrats signaled that they planned to seek out "many voices" of faith. The party's commitment to religious issues was highlighted by its choosing the Rev. Leah Daughtry, of New York, as CEO of the convention committee.

Yet, despite its early hopes, one group has felt left out of the loop - Denver's interfaith community.

the convention committee will hold its first official kickoff event - a huge Sunday afternoon gathering dedicated to religious inclusiveness and diversity.

Likely destined to be cancelled on account of lightning.

About Leah Daughtry: “They owe us.” Unh-huh.

“Behind her as she preached, a simple wooden cross hung on a brick wall in the vaulted and sizable sanctuary of the church, which is headed by her father, Herbert Daughtry. A prison convert who served time in his early 20s for armed robbery and passing bad checks, Herbert Daughtry — whose father founded the church and whose grandfather and great-grandfather were also ministers — became the church’s pastor 50 years ago, and today Leah was delivering the sermon as part of an anniversary celebration. Below the sanctuary, in the fellowship hall, a banner for slavery reparations proclaimed, “They Owe Us.” Fliers recounted Herbert Daughtry’s arrest, a few weeks earlier, as he led marchers protesting the not-guilty verdict in the police killing of Sean Bell, an unarmed black man. His ministry has always combined consuming spirituality with black liberation theology — the theology Jeremiah Wright invoked this spring to defend his controversial sermons — and zealous political activism. Leah holds these forces within her.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/magazine/20minister-t.html

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