The Minister and Politics

How to be Political Without Being Partisan?

Tony Campolo, Jim Wallis, Greg Boyd, and Melissa Rogers (blog) will speak to this question at the upcoming The Minister and Politics conference hosted by Christian Ethics Today and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

This exciting ethics conference will precede the CBF General Assembly and will explore the prophetic role of ministers in non-partisan politics.

A brief description of the event follows:

Set for Wednesday, June 27, from 1-5 p.m., the conference’s featured presenters are author and speaker Tony Campolo, Sojourners founder Jim Wallis, Minneapolis pastor Greg Boyd and Melissa Rogers, former general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty.

"The conference is designed to assist religious leaders in the complex and difficult area of working for moral values and social justice," said Joe Trull, editor of Christian Ethics Today. "Christian Ethics Today has enlisted four speakers, widely sought and weekly quoted, who are considered by most to be the very best evangelical voices on this topic."

Campolo, a former Eastern University professor and founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, will speak to the overall conference theme. Wallis, CEO of Sojourners/Call to Renewal and author of "God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It," will talk about the minister’s role in social justice. Rogers, a Wake Forest University Divinity School visiting professor, will focus on the minister’s role in regard to church and state issues. Boyd, recent author of "Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church," will speak on the role of the pastor.

"These are four people who have spoken forcefully to this issue of the role of the minister in politics," said Philip Wise, president of the board of Christian Ethics Today. "It’s an issue that continues to challenge ministers. As a pastor myself, it’s a difficult line to walk. Ministers need help with this, and here are four people who are certainly qualified to talk about this."