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Religion Leaders At Democratic National Convention 2012 Range From High-Profile To Obscure

Top 10 Religious Leaders At Democratic National Convention
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Senior Religion Reporter, The Huffington Post

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Radio news anchor Joe Mathieu, of Boston, take pictures at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

From a prominent Roman Catholic cardinal and an outspoken nun to Jewish and evangelical clergy, a variety of religious voices will be on stage at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.

As is customary, convention organizers have invited faith leaders to offer invocations and benedictions each night of the convention, which begins Tuesday and runs through Thursday. But the selection of clergy to offer prayers and the religious voices who will speak may be even more significant this election year. Not only are Democrats vying for voters from key religious demographics, such as evangelicals, but they are also fighting back complaints from Republicans and religious organizations that they have clamped down on religious freedom.

The view has been expressed loudest by Catholic bishops, who have protested a portion of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul that requires employers, including Catholic schools and hospitals but not houses of worship, to provide free contraception as part of employee health insurance plans. The cause has been led by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who included a prayer for religious freedom as part of his closing benediction at the Republican National Convention. Dolan will also offer the closing prayer at the Democrats' gathering.

While the Democrats have not prominently included religious issues in their platform (Republicans, meanwhile, devoted a section of their platform to discussing religious liberty), there are plenty of faith leaders on the ground in Charlotte.

Below is the lineup for invocations. While timing can change, invocations will generally happen shortly after 5 p.m. and benedictions will happen around 11 p.m. each day.


Tuesday invocation: Metropolitan Nicholas, Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Detroit

Tuesday benediction: Jena Lee Nardella, executive director, Blood: Water Mission

Wednesday invocation: the Rev. Vashti Murphy McKenzie, presiding bishop, African Methodist Episcopal Church

Wednesday benediction: Rabbi David Wolpe, Sinai Temple in Los Angeles

Thursday invocation: the Rev. Gabriel Salguero, president, National Latino Evangelical Coalition

Thursday benediction: Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York

For more information on these speakers, see the slideshow below, which also includes additional religious figures to watch at the convention.

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Before You Go

Religion At Democratic National Convention 2012
Cardinal Timothy Dolan(01 of10)
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Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York and the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, will offer the benediction before the convention closes. Joseph Zwilling, the cardinal's spokesman, said Dolan's appearance is not an endorsement and he is going only to pray. The cardinal also prayed before the closing of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. He included a prayer for religious freedom in his Tampa remarks.The Archdiocese of New York is one of dozens of Catholic organizations suing President Barack Obama because of a portion of his health care overhaul that requires employers, including Catholic schools and hospitals but not houses of worship, to provide free contraception as part of employee health plans. Pictured, Dolan gestures during a Mass of Thanksgiving at the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis. (credit:AP)
Sister Simone Campbell(02 of10)
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Sister Simone Campbell is the executive director of NETWORK, an organization of nuns that describes itself as a "Catholic social justice lobby." As Catholic bishops fought President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul because it required non-houses of worship, such as Catholic hospitals, to provide free contraception to employees as part of insurance coverage, Campbell's group said it supported the administration's decision. Campbell is also known for leading the Nuns on the Bus tour, a nine-state trip focusing on Catholic teachings about caring for the poor. The tour targeted Rep. Paul Ryan's controversial budget plan, which Campbell called "not Christian" and "immoral."While Campbell has disagreed with American Catholic bishops on several issues (she toldThe Washington Post in June that there's "a small cadre of bishops who are determined or feel called to politicizing our faith in a way that's extremely partisan and narrow"), she has also said she is "pro-life, all of life."Campbell won't offer an invocation or benediction at the convention, but she is scheduled to speak at part of its official schedule on Wednesday. (credit:AP)
Rev. Gabriel Salguero(03 of10)
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The Rev. Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, will offer the invocation at the DNC on Thursday.Salguero and his wife, Jeanette, are senior pastors of Lamb's Church in New York City. They represent two key voting groups that President Barack Obama and Democrats hope to win in November: Hispanics and evangelicals. The Republican National Convention also hosted a prominent Hispanic evangelical, the Rev. Sammy Rodriguez, president of National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.Pictured, Salguero, left, and his wife, Jeanette, speak at the Lamb's Manhattan Church of the Nazarene in New York. (credit:AP)
Bishop Vashti McKenzie(04 of10)
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Bishop Vashti McKenzie, the first woman presiding bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, is no stranger to the DNC and the Democratic Party. She offered an invocation at the 1996 DNC in Chicago, while earlier this summer, First Lady Michelle Obama spoke at the denomination's general conference. The AME church is the nation's oldest black denomination and has a membership of more than 2 million. It was founded in 1816 in Philadelphia after many Methodist congregations in the mid-Atlantic region broke away from white Methodist congregations. Pictured, President Barack Obama and McKenzie on stage during an Easter Prayer Breakfast on April 19, 2011, at the White House. (credit:Getty Images)
Metropolitan Nicholas(05 of10)
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Metropolitan Nicholas, the bishop of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Detroit, opened the DNC with an invocation on Tuesday.The Democratic National Committee had originally asked Archbishop Demetrios of America, the archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, to do the invocation. Archbishop Demetrios initially offered to do the benediction at the Republication National Convention, but sent Metropolitan Methodios of Boston in his place. He was also was unable to attend the DNC and asked Metropolitan Nicholas to attend in his place.The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, headquartered in New York, oversees 800 priests in 500 parishes throughout the U.S. and about 440,000 members. (credit:Metropolis of Detroit)
LDS Dems(06 of10)
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According to a recent Pew survey, most Mormons tend to be conservative and are often Republicans. But in a year when the political lens has become focused on their faith largely in because of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Mormon Democrats are gathering in Charlotte to make their voices heard.LDS (Latter-day Saints) Dems, formed last October in Utah, and has grown to more than 2,000 members, kicked of a gathering of Mormon Democrats from across the nation at a hotel near the Charlotte convention site on Tuesday. Their keynote speaker was Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is Mormon.Pictured, Reid (D-Nev), speaks to reporters. (credit:AP)
The Rev. Derrick Harkins(07 of10)
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Although he is not playing an official role the DNC's primetime schedule, the Rev. Derrick Harkins is playing a major role in the Democratic Party's faith efforts.Harkins, senior pastor of Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., was tapped to be the director of faith outreach for the Democratic National Committee in October and has been making the rounds in Charlotte. That includes leading a morning prayer gathering at the convention on Tuesday, where he called Democrats a party of values and faith. Harkins is on the board of the boards of the National Association of Evangelicals, Faith in Public Life and World Relief. In addition, he is part of the Circle of Protection, an ecumenical alliance of pastors and religious groups who have come out against federal budget cuts they say will hurt poor and vulnerable people. (credit:Ninetheeth Street Baptist Church)
Rabbi David Wolpe(08 of10)
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Rabbi David Wolpe, the spiritual leader of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles who has been dubbed the most influential rabbi in America by Newsweek, will offer a benediction at the DNC on Wednesday.Volpe, who comes from Judaism's conservative tradition, runs the largest conservative temple west of Mississippi, and was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York 1987. He is also the author of seven books on Judaism. (credit:Temple Sinai)
Muslims(09 of10)
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While no Muslim is scheduled to offer an invocation or benediction at the DNC, that doesn't mean Muslims won't be present.According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, this year's DNC will have the most Muslim delegates in the convention's history. CAIR estimated the number of delegates to be more than 100, an increase from 43 Muslim and Arab-American delegates in 2008 and 25 in 2004. "The more than doubling of Muslim delegates" is "a sign of the American Muslim community's growing civic engagement and acceptance in the Democratic Party," said CAIR government affairs coordinator Robert McCaw in a press release. According to McCaw, there were "relatively few" Muslims at the Republican National Convention. In addition to Muslim delegates, the Bureau of Indigenous Muslims Affairs, a national Islamic organization that works on civic and religious issues, hosted its annual conference in Charlotte over Labor Day weekend to coincide with DNC events. The conference is not officially a part of the DNC, but thousands of Muslims attended. And on Thursday, the American Muslim Democratic Caucus plans to hold a press conference about Muslims at the DNC. It will be co-hosted by Rep. Keith Ellison (Minn.) and Rep. Andre Carson (Ind.). Both are Muslims. Pictured: Muslim youths pray during the New Horizons gathering on June 5, 2011, in Brooklyn, N.Y. (credit:Getty)
Jena Lee Nardella(10 of10)
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Jena Lee Nardella, executive director of Blood: Water Mission, offered an invocation to open the DNC on Tuesday.Blood Water: Mission is a non-profit based in Nashville, Tenn., that works on battling the HIV/AIDS and water crises in sub-Saharan Africa. Nardella co-founded the organization with Jars of Clay, a popular Christian rock band, in 2004 when she was 22.While older evangelicals may sway Republican, younger ones such as those Nardella appeals to are up for grabs. Democrats' pick of Nardella signals their recognition of a need to appeal to the important democratic, which is part of what helped President Barack Obama win the election in 2008. (credit:Blood: Water Mission)
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