The Velveteen Rabbi+ Michele Goldberg on AAR: State of Belief this Sunday

[bettyellen]

This Sunday's State of Belief Radio

Welton on Obama's Speech and Religious Conventions; Michelle Goldberg
on Christian Nationalism


Washington July 7 - On this Sunday's "State of Belief," The Interfaith
Alliance Foundation's show on Air America Radio, Rev. Welton Gaddy
speaks with author Michelle Goldberg about the rise of Christian
authoritatism in America; examines Barack Obama's speech on how faith
affects his life; examines the effect of recent religious conventions
on the landscape of America; and explores how faith bloggers plan to
make their mark.



Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) spoke last week on the value of his faith to
his public and political life which set off a firestorm discussion
regarding the role of religion in the Democratic Party. The speech
drew many reactions as Welton says, "it was the most impressive
statement on faith and politics in recent memory and a refreshing
departure from the self-righteous certainty of so many politicians'
religious speech."

This summer, several religious denominations held annual meetings
including the Unitarian Universalists, the Episcopal Church USA, the
Presbyterian Church USA and the Southern Baptists. Important decisions
came out of each one as Jennifer Kottler, Deputy Director of
Protestants for the Common Good joins Welton to talk about their
impact. Welton asks her about the Episcopal Church naming their first
female presiding bishop. Kottler says, "I would like to think the
church is stepping out in some ways but I think we're seeing the
church start to reflect the broader society especially in the role of
women.

Michele Goldberg, author of Kingdon Coming: The Rise of Chrisian
Nationalism, talks with Welton about Dominionism and how the Religious
Right is building its own fairy tale world. Goldberg says, "it's a
whole library of lies. You're talking about stacks and stacks of
endless books and revisionist histories and revisionist science
books...all of it describing this completely imaginary world."

Blogger Velveteen Rabbi, also known as Rachel Barenblat, explains the
importance of not just the blogosphere, but of religiously progressive
blogs and how they can impact lives, religions and even elections.
Rachel is heading up a Progressive Blog Conference with more than 30
bloggers next week to discuss the best way to spread their message.

State of Belief explores the intersection of religion with politics,
culture, media, and activism. Through interviews with newsmakers and
celebrities, reports from the field, and his own commentary, Welton
shows how religion and radical freedom are best friends and how the
religious right is wrong - wrong for America and bad for religion.

State of Belief
Religion and radio, done differently
Brought to you by The Interfaith Alliance Foundation
5:00 to 6:00 PM EST each Sunday
Air America Radio Network

To see where and when State of Belief is broadcast, go to
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<http://www.airamericaradio.com/stations>.

(It is likely that State of Belief will be on the air this Sunday at 5
PM EST on your local Air America Radio affiliate. Or, you can listen
online or on XM Satellite Radio, channel 167).

To listen online, go to: www.airamericaradio.com/listen
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<http://www.stateofbelief.com/>

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The Interfaith Alliance (TIA) is a nonpartisan, grassroots
organization dedicated to promoting the positive and healing role of
religion in the life of the nation and challenging those who
manipulate religion to promote a narrow, divisive agenda. With more
than 185,000 members drawn from more than 75 faith traditions and 75
local activist groups throughout America, TIA promotes compassion,
civility and mutual respect for human dignity in our increasingly
diverse society.

www.interfaithalliance.org <http://www.interfaithalliance.org/>