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RCCA’s Pastors Breakfast to recognize historic 1957 Manifesto on Racial Beliefs
Faith And The City e.Newsletter
October 5, 2007
The Regional Council of Churches of Atlanta will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the historic 1957 Pastors’ Manifesto on Racial Beliefs, which was initiated by the RCCA’s predecessor organization, the Christian Council of Atlanta.
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A time to speak
Time Magazine
November 11, 1957
Georgia's standpat segregationists got a shock with their Sunday [Nov. 3, 1957] paper. Glaring from the pages of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution was a statement signed by almost every leading Protestant minister in Atlanta – 80 in all – which came out foursquare for the Christian view of race relations, individual liberty and the law of the land.
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Regional Council of Church’s Herchel Sheets Intern helps launch Impact UMC
By John Baker Brown Jr.
Faith And The City e.Newsletter
September 28, 2007
A nontraditional new-church initiative draws hundreds to multimedia worship and community-oriented ministry in Atlanta’s West End. “We call it a worship ‘experience,’ not a worship ‘service’.” We give people an opportunity to experience God, to get to know God in a unique way from 10 to 11 o’clock on Sunday mornings – and if they want more, we’re available.”
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The secret billionaire giveaway
By Paul Gallagher
Reuters
September 21, 2007
LONDON - He wears a $15 watch, flies economy class and does not own a house or car. For years few guessed that Chuck Feeney was one of the world's biggest philanthropists, secretly giving away his billionaire fortune.
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Important, but not for me: Math, science, technology education
Public Agenda Alert
September 19, 2007
There is growing consensus among the nation’s leaders that unless schools do more to nurture young Americans with strong skills in math, science and technology, U.S. leadership in the world economy is at risk. But our new research report, part of a multi-year project on math and science education, concludes that Kansas and Missouri parents and students didn’t get the memo.
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San Francisco to offer care for every uninsured adult
By Kevin Sack
New York Times
September 14, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO - Since contracting polio at age 2, Yan Ling Ho has lived with pain for most of her 52 years. After she immigrated here from Hong Kong last year, the soreness in her back and joints proved too debilitating for her to work.
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Why can't the U.S. have the debate about Naomi Klein's book that Europe has?
By Jan Frel
AlterNet Posted
September 21, 2007
Naomi Klein's new book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, tells the history of how the American version of "free market" capitalism has spread in moments of crisis and catastrophe, when societies are too traumatized and disoriented to challenge the introduction of radical economic policies that go against their own interests.
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Ahmadinejad's speech at Columbia University is as American as apple pie
By Rebecca Evans and Brandon Hammer
AlterNet
September 24, 2007
Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly, in condemning Columbia's invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stated that he's tired of free speech. Ironically, in doing so, he exercised that specific freedom, a privilege that allows critical engagement with elected officials and forces them to defend their actions. He used a right that the people of Iran do not enjoy.
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Companies struggle to accommodate employees' religions
Press Release
The Conference Board
September 12, 2007
What happens when an employee's freedom of religion crosses paths with a company's interests? A recent article in The Conference Board Review looks to answer this question.
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Exoneration using DNA brings change in legal system
By Solomon Moore
New York Times
October 1, 2007
State lawmakers across the country are adopting broad changes to criminal justice procedures as a response to the exoneration of more than 200 convicts through the use of DNA evidence.
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Is ethics futile?
By Rushworth M. Kidder
Institute for Global Ethics Newsline
September 24, 2007
"Does ethics really make any difference?" It was a heartfelt question. The questioner, a corporate finance executive from England, didn't strike me as cynical, ignorant, or confused.
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The whole (Jena 6) story?
By Sean Gonsalves
AlterNet
September 24, 2007
One side can only see black criminality in this case, while downplaying (or ignoring) the existential threat nooses represent to black folk. The other side – rightfully calling attention to a clear-cut case of white-skin privilege – wrongly sees the Jena 6 as the beginning of 21st century civil rights movement.
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The day Louis Armstrong made noise
By David Margolick
New York Times
September 23, 2007
Fifty years ago this week, all eyes were on Little Rock, Ark., where nine black students were trying, for the first time, to desegregate a major Southern high school. With fewer than 150 blacks, the town of Grand Forks, N.D., hardly figured to be a key front in that battle – until, that is, Larry Lubenow talked to Louis Armstrong.
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A journey into the redneck state of mind
By John MacCormack
Texas Observer
Posted on Alternet September 14, 2007
"It used to be America's most respectable ethnic slur. You could say anything about Southern whites, and it was resented only by Southern whites," said James Cobb, author, college professor, and self-pronounced redneck.
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The world comes to Georgia, and an old church adapts
By Warren St. John
New York Times
September 22, 2007
When the Rev. Phil Kitchin steps into the pulpit of the Clarkston International Bible Church on Sunday mornings, he stands eye to eye with the changing face of America. In the pews before him, alongside white-haired Southern women in their Sunday best, sit immigrants from the Philippines and Togo, refugees from war-scarred Liberia, Ethiopia and Sudan, even a convert from Afghanistan.
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Metro Atlanta builds on plan for affordable homes
By Maria Saporta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
September 17, 2007
The Atlanta region continues to have a disconnect of affordable residences, especially near its major work centers. As a result, that forces Atlantans into long commutes to their jobs from homes they can afford -- creating traffic jams along the way.
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Pornography and the end of masculinity
By Don Hazen
AlterNet
September 22, 2007
In his new book, Robert Jensen forces the reader to face the music about the effects of a porn industry gone gonzo and the need to reassess the trappings of masculinity as the source of increased violence against and degradation of women.
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Faith And The City posts brief event notices that must include a website address for additional information. Events should be concerned with faith, interfaith and public issues.

October 1-15: "Daniel Pearl World Music Days.” Daniel Pearl Foundation. Global network of concerts using music to diminish hatred, encourage respect for differences, and reach out in friendship.
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October 25: “Pastors Breakfast Celebrates 1957 Manifesto on Racial Beliefs.” Regional Council of Churches. RSVP to 404.523.5554, ext 231, or ecarter@rccatl.org.
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November 11: “Annual Empty Bowl Dinner.” Event benefits Jewish Family & Career Services’ Project Connect to aid homeless people. For more information and to order tickets, visit www.jfcs-atlanta.org/emptybowl.asp or call 770.677.9329.
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