Obama to Emphasize his Personal Faith in New Round of Ads

Barack Obama will soon be making a concerted effort to stress his faith in a new round of ads for both radio and TV. His campaign hopes to sway religious voters and to cast attention away from the recent media swarm involing Obama and his ex-pastor Jeremiah Wright. One of the new radio ads features Daniel Mongiardo, Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, calling Obama "a strong Christian."

Feds Investigate Al Sharpton's Tax Payments; Sharpton Criticizes Clinton

The word on the street is that Reverend Al Sharpton (and his businesses) owe back taxes and late penalties of around 1.5 million dollars to both New York and the federal government. The attorney general is also conducting an investigation into his National Action Network non-profit.

Sharpton and his associates have depicted this errors as growing pains; keeping up with an influx of donations and revenues proved too much for NAN accountants to handle. Further, Sharpton has characterized these investigations as harassment and typical of the government's treatment of civil rights leaders.

Meanwhile, Sharpton continues to criticize Hilary Clinton for not dropping out of the race for the Democratic nomination. He likened her continued battle for the nomination to a deluded entertainer in an interview with New York 1: "The worst thing in the world is when an entertainer doesn't know when the show is over. The audience is gone, the lights are down, you're getting ready to cut the mics off and you are still on the stage singing. It's over, it's all right, it's over. Come sing another day, but this show is over for Sen. Clinton."

Pew Discussion on Religion and Progressive Politics

On May 1, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life held a roundtable discussion about religion in the 2008 US presidential election. Participants Laura Olson, Jennifer Butler (author of Born Again: The Christian Right Globalized), and Chris Korzen (co-author of A Nation for All: How the Catholic Vision of the Common Good Can Save America from the Politics of Division) discussed the increasingly loud voices of progressive religious activists - those who focus on broad social issues. How will the social agendas of these religious people affect the upcoming election. The conversation is well worth watching or reading.

See the video:

Hilary Clinton Addresses the Role of Religion in Politics

Cambpell Brown asks Hilary Clinton about the role of religion in American politics. She gives a typical answer, lauding American pluralism and toleration. She is rather ambiguous on the real place of religion in the political sphere. It is to be both private and internal, yet has a place in the public square. We know this. But a more nuanced discussion of how this dynamic works might be helpful to voters.

An "Evangelical Manifesto" Attempts to Make Evangelicalism Less Politicized

On Tuesday, an "Evangelical Manifesto" was released by a group trying to make the word "evangelical" less politicized, highlighting some of the dangers of an increasingly politicized faith. Many of the seventy evangelical leaders who signed the manifesto have offered critiques of evangelical partisan politics in past elections; leaders of the "religious right" were not courted to sign the document. Among other things, the manifesto pushes evangelicals to consider broader issues such as the environment and poverty alongside hot button issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. You can hear an interview with Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary and signer of the manifeston on NPR's Day to Day. If you so desire, you can read the full manifesto for yourself.