Tag: Mainline Protestant

It was the first time that two politicians of Warren’s and Booker’s stature had appeared at the event. Rob Lee, a North Carolina pastor and descendant of Confederate Civil War Gen. Robert E. Lee whose denunciation of racist violence made a splash at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards. But the theme of this year’s festival is “Preaching and Politics,” and those who assembled at Washington’s Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church were treated to a rare hybrid of a campaign rally and a preaching competition. Valerie Steele, of Highland Park United Methodist Church in Stillwater, Okla. “But I think we’re called to help people connect the head and the heart.” For Warren and Booker, conscious that their politics often overlap with a strain of social-justice preaching popular in mainline Protestantism, the conference offered an opportunity to connect liberal faith with potential votes. “I have a saying: Before you tell me about your religion, first show it to me in how you treat other people around you,” he said. “These are not political issues. These are moral issues,” he said, over shouts of “amen.” He later added: “This is a moral moment in America, where self-inflicted wounds are costing us not just humanity. “I’m not just called to preach social justice — I’m called to act.” “I’m not just called to preach social justice — I’m called to act.” The assembled preachers seemed to welcome the notion that their conference had been turned into something akin to a hustings for a day. Introducing Booker, the Rev. Rev.