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Diverse Forum on Faith, Politics and Governance to Respond to GOP Debate in Michigan

DETROIT, MI NOV 10- As Republican candidates debated in Michigan last night on the economy, a diverse lineup of national leaders in faith, politics and governance will respond to the GOP presidential candidates debate at the National Forum on Obama and Christian Loyalty Nov 12 10am at Wayne State University Spencer M. Partrich Law School Auditorium.

Robert S. Weiner, a former White House spokesperson during the Bill Clinton administration and a top aide to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy and four senior Members of Congress, is the keynote speaker at the National Forum on Obama and Christian Loyalty which is free and open to the public.

Also speaking at the forum is Bishop PA Brooks of the Church of God in Christ, Rogelio Orta CEO of the Texas-based Latino Christian Business Network, Hyepin Im from the Los Angeles-based Korean Churches for Community Development, Minnesota-based education leader Dr. Brenda Lewis among others.

The National Forum on Obama and Christian Loyalty, a rare gathering of national and local faith and political leaders, marks the official launch of Michigan Chronicle newspaper Senior Editor Bankole Thompson's latest book on the intersection of faith, politics and governance titled "Obama and Christian Loyalty" published by Global Mark Makers (http://www.globalmarkmakers.com). Thompson has had a series of sit-down interviews with Obama.

Weiner, who wrote the epilogue to the book, was also the director of the Daily Press Briefing Room at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver where President Obama was nominated. He was Communications Director for congressional committees chaired by Congressman John Conyers and Charles Rangel, Chief of Staff of the House Aging Committee under Congressman Claude Pepper, Legislative assistant to Congressman Ed Koch, and spokesman for White House National Drug Policy Director and 4-Star General Barry McCaffrey. He now is president of a Washington think tank, has written over 150 op-eds in major papers since leaving the White House, and is regularly called to be a guest on network television and radio news programs.

In his keynote, Weiner will ask how is it religious to oppose health care, jobs bills, housing aid for poor, Social Security for Seniors, or argue to "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt", when compassion is basis of religion.

The book's foreword was written by Bishop PA Brooks, First Assistant Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ Inc., and a guest chaplain of the 102nd Congress in Washington DC.

The book, "Obama and Christian Loyalty", contends that a political leader who is of the Christian faith is tasked by the bible to fight for the poor, the weak, the voiceless and the oppressed, irrespective of their creed, race, political persuasion and location.