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As reported on the front page of the Washington Post on May 20, the Spiritual Activism Conference may have helped usher in a sea change in progressive politics. Over 1,200 spiritual and religious progressives including clergy and lay people of multiple faiths, artists, musicians, peace activists, and academics gathered at All Souls Church in Washington, DC, May 17-20 to challenge the misuse and misappropriation of religion, God and spirit by the religious right and to answer the call to organize as spiritual progressives. The eight-point "Spiritual Covenant with America" outlined in Michael Lerner's recent book, "The Left Hand of God, Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right," invites us to work towards transforming the current economic and political materialist outlook into one that acknowledges the power of tolerance, social and ethical justice, and ecologically responsible behavior--as well as kindness, generosity and love--as a new bottom line that will support a sustainable productive and comfortable social life.
On the second day of the conference, spiritual activists spent the morning lobbying their congressional representatives about the eight-point covenant and then gathered at Lafayette Park for a pray-in. Peace and freedom songs were sung, prayers were recited from many different spiritual traditions and the afternoon ended with a walk to the White House led by Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink to deliver the first 43,000 signatures of a petition urging peace rather than war or military action in Iran.
PDA is the only political organization to co-sponsor the Spiritual Activism conference. PDA aims to create political power inspired by a vision of hope, rather than fear. Indeed, it was founded on heartfelt desires to create a new politic in the 21st century. Rabbi Lerner's analysis for changing the political culture is one that resonates with many of us. Many PDA members have joined the Network of Spiritual Progressives (NSP), in hopes the progressive world will do a better job of integrating spiritual identities (and the new bottom line) into the fabric of our political life. Likewise, many NSP members are joining PDA. Think about it. Contact the Spiritual Values Working Group, .
In the words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. accepting his Nobel Prize in 1964:
I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him.