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Cleveland nun to close one night of Democratic convention with prayer By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service WASHINGTON – St. Joseph Sister Catherine Pinkerton of Cleveland is not usually one to seek the spotlight, but she will take center stage at the Democratic National Convention Aug. 27 when she gives the benediction to close the party’s third day of business. Sister Catherine, 86, a lobbyist for Network, a national Catholic social justice lobby, will close the convention on the night that Sen. Barack Obama is expected to formally become the party’s nominee for president. The invitation to lead the prayer...

On Sunday, Democratic delegates convening in Denver were prayed over by representatives of various faiths. One stood out: Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America. With this choice, Barak Obama's campaign has committed a strategic error of the first order. After all, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) has been identified by the Department of Justice not only as a front for the Muslim Brotherhood – a global Islamist movement with the stated mission in America of "destroying Western civilization from within." Worse yet, it has also been named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the United...

DENVER — Nobody's come as far as James Yee to be a delegate to this Democratic National Convention. Five years ago, Yee, an Army chaplain of Muslim faith, was shackled and tossed into solitary confinement for 76 days because the U.S. government felt — wrongly — that he was a terrorist sympathizer and spy. [SNIP] Some intelligence officers suspected Yee of conspiring with the enemy, and he was arrested that September. Spying, espionage, mutiny and sedition — all were alleged by the government. Infamously, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. — whom Yee will probably meet at this convention — said Yee's...

DENVER, August 24 /Christian Newswire/ -- Kicking off their week of inclusion at the Democratic National Convention, the party will host its first-ever "interfaith gathering" on Sunday afternoon at the Colorado Convention Center. However, among its featured speakers will be Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). The ISNA is suspected of having ties to radical terrorism organizations worldwide. In fact, the ISNA is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case. ISNA is also supported by the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical organization that calls on Muslim organizations in America to dedicate themselves...

DENVER, August 24 /Christian Newswire/ -- In its first "official event" of the 2008 Democratic Convention, Pentecostal preacher and Bishop Charles E. Blake of the Church of God in Christ, took to the pulpit of an Interfaith Gathering and unequivocally denounced abortion, saying God could not be pleased with millions of lives being ended by elective abortion. President of the pro-life National Clergy Council, Rev. Rob Schenck, who was present at the event, said, "This is an amazing development. Bishop Blake was crystal clear in condemning abortion. There was nothing subtle about it. He identified himself as a pro-life Democrat...

At the first official event Sunday of the Democratic National Convention, a choir belted out a gospel song and was followed by a rabbi reciting a Torah reading about forgiveness and the future. Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun who wrote "Dead Man Walking," assailed the death penalty and the use of torture. Young Muslim women in headscarves sat near older African-American women in their finest Sunday hats. Four years ago, such a scene would have been unthinkable at a Democratic National Convention. In 2004, there was one interfaith lunch at the Democratic gala in Boston. But that same year, "values...

As many of you know, over the last couple of months I have had the opportunity to speak with Sen. Barack Obama a couple of times—even interviewing him here on the website last month. His campaign has expressed a desire to have an ongoing dialogue with the Christian community, and I’ve gladly taken them up on that offer. I have regular conversations with his campaign staff about issues that are important to Christians, talking honestly about areas of disagreement and discussing ways we can work toward a common good. It’s a positive dialogue that, as a registered Republican, I have...

Young evangelical backs out of convention prayer By ERIC GORSKI,AP Posted: 2008-08-22 04:32:07 DENVER (AP) - It was a coup for Democrats: An emerging young evangelical voice, a registered Republican no less, accepted their invitation to deliver a prayer at next week's Democratic National Convention. But Cameron Strang, the 32-year-old editor of edgy and hip Relevant Magazine, had second thoughts and pulled out of delivering the benediction on the convention's first night, Monday. Citing fears that his bridge-building gesture would be wrongly construed as an endorsement, Strang said he instead hopes to take a lower-profile role, participating in a convention...

Pastor Who Opposes Abortion to Deliver DNC's Closing Prayer By Krissah Williams Sen. Barack Obama's team will continue its aggressive outreach to evangelical voters at the Democratic National Convention next week. Making a prime-time appearance Thursday night will be Joel C. Hunter, a Florida megachurch pastor who will deliver the convention's closing prayer following Obama's speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination. Hunter is a registered Republican, opposes abortion and, at one point, had been chosen to lead the Christian Coalition. He has not endorsed Obama and says he agreed to give the benediction because has was asked to do so....

Washington- An 86-year-old nun from Cleveland who works for a Catholic anti-poverty lobbying group has been selected to deliver the closing prayers one night during the Democratic National Convention. "I think you have a different perspective when you've lived some history," says Catherine Pinkerton, a member of the Cleveland-based religious order Congregation of St. Joseph who once served as principal of the West Side secondary school it founded, St. Joseph Academy. Pinkerton says that she has never been an activist for either political party but that she admires Barack Obama's "vision of where we stand as a nation and where...

An evangelical pastor from Florida who calls himself a "conservative Republican" will be delivering the opening and closing prayer at the Democratic National Convention next Thursday in Denver. The Democratic National Convention (DNC) will kick off Sunday with what organizers call an "interfaith gathering" of Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, and Jewish leaders and a representative of Denver's Buddhist community. A Convention spokeswoman says the event will show that Democrats are "faith-friendly" and more "religiously diverse" than Republicans. According to news reports, "religious leaders" will open and close each day's session. On Thursday, Orlando mega-church pastor Joel Hunter will be opening and...

Washington — Presidential historians and convention observers believe this year’s Democratic convention will be the first time that a rabbi gives an invocation before the presidential nominee’s acceptance speech since the advent of modern American political conventions nearly a century ago. Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, will be making history August 28 as he opens the Democratic convention’s last day, in front of an expected crowd of 70,000 in the audience and millions more watching from afar. The choice of a Jewish religious leader to give the prime-time invocation is only one part...

...Cameron Strang, the 32-year-old editor of edgy and hip Relevant Magazine, had second thoughts and pulled out of delivering the benediction on the convention's first night, Monday...

Barack Obama's team will continue its aggressive outreach to evangelical voters at the Democratic National Convention next week. Making a prime-time appearance Thursday night will be Joel C. Hunter, a Florida megachurch pastor, who will deliver the convention's closing prayer after Obama's speech accepting the party's presidential nomination. Hunter is a registered Republican, opposes abortion and, at one point, had been chosen to lead the Christian Coalition. He has not endorsed Obama and says he agreed to give the benediction because he was asked to do so. For years, he has pushed for evangelicals to not align themselves with a...