I am pleased to announce that in addition to my usual roaming God-guy duties at Yearly Kos - Mike Stark has outfitted me with a bishop's crozier wired for sound + images, and pontifical hat that broadcasts live coverage in a four-block radius* - I will be moderating a panel on Friday called "Faith Or No: Building Secular-Religious Coalitions".
Full details below the fold.
Our announced purpose is to answer a simple question:
How can religious and secular progressive bloggers work and play together productively? Find out through examinations of the current religious and political climate, practical tips on working across the divide, and a how-to guide on starting flamewars...
And our panelists are:
I'll be speaking about the American "religious ecology" and introducing the panel. Barbara intends to talk about religion as a problem, from her own Buddhist perspective. Mik will discuss the difficulties religious and secular netroots activists have had in working together. Bill is going to look at the political situation and offer some suggestions for coalition building. Don will offer a "how-to" guide of the nuts and bolts of creating those coalitions. And of course, we'll leave plenty of time for questions and answers.
In an unplanned bit of luck, there will be a nice series of panels and workshops looking at religion the same day. There will be a panel on Is The Religious Right Really Dead? and a workshop titled What To Do About The Religious Right, both led by posters from Talk to Action, the site for taking on theocrats. I thought there were going to be some science panels, too, but I don't see them now. Perhaps I've overlooked them.
In any case, we're going to have a blast, and as I say, we're going to leave plenty of time for discussion. If you're unlucky enough that you can't attend, leave a question or polite comment below. I'll pull a few of the best and ask the panel on Friday.
*This, of course, is untrue. We're in enough hot water with Mr. O'Reilly as it is.