Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Cynthia Tucker and Jason Carter, grandson of former President Jimmy Carter and co-founder of a grassroots service organization called Democrats Work headline a panel discussion following a screening of the Baptist Center for Ethics DVD “Golden Rule Politics” Jan. 29 in Atlanta.
The screening, sponsored by the Baptist Studies Program at Candler School of Theology and the Nashville-based BCE, starts at 7 p.m. on the campus of Emory University. It is free and open to the public, but seating is limited.
“Golden Rule Politics: Reclaiming the Rightful Role of Faith in Politics” is a 36-minute documentary-style DVD that challenges the Christian Right’s political myth constructed over 25 years that GOP stands for God’s Only Party. The DVD is rooted in the theological conviction that God is neither a Republican nor a Democrat and that neither party is thoroughly moral nor completely immoral. The DVD explores the rightful role of faith in politics through interviews with clergy and politicians in Alabama, Missouri and Tennessee. It expands the moral agenda from the narrow list of issues prioritized by the Christian Right to the fuller expression of issues found in the Christian tradition, beginning with the biblical priority of doing justice.”During this election year, it is extremely important for people of faith to be involved in the electoral process and to realize the responsibilities that go with it,” said David Key, director of Baptist studies at Candler. “Hopefully this film will help individuals during this coming year as they make their political decisions.”
Tucker, editorial page editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and a syndicated columnist whose twice-a-week column appears in 40 newspapers, was recognized with a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2007 after being a nominated finalist in 2004 and 2006. In 2006, the National Association of Black Journalists selected her as its Journalist of the Year.
Carter, whose father, Jack, was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Nevada in 2006, is an Atlanta attorney. He co-founded Democrats Work with Thomas Bates, currently the group’s executive director, and sits on its board of directors. The organization’s mission is to mobilize grassroots Democrats to perform community service projects to create a “politics of service” by volunteering for visible and tangible service projects in their communities like cleaning up neighborhoods and parks, supporting schools and teachers, planting trees, sponsoring soccer clinics, and working at food banks.
Other scheduled panelists are John Peterson, Canon for Global Justice and Reconciliation at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and Kasim Reed, Georgia State Senator and member of Cascade United Methodist Church.The DVD screening and panel discussion will be in Room 311 in Bishops Hall at Emory University’s Candler school of Theology. Click here for a campus map. For more information contact David Key, director of the Baptist Studies Program, by e-mail or phone (404-727-6350).
Bob Allen is managing editor of EthicsDaily.com.
Managing editor at EthicsDaily.com from 2003-2009, Allen wrote more than 1,500 news stories during his tenure.
