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THE COMPASSION FORUM

On Sunday April 13th, Dr. Sayyid M Syeed National Director of the Islamic Society of North America attended the Compassion Forum at Messiah College in Brubaker PA.  Senator's Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton participated in this forum that focused on moral issues such as torture, the crisis in Darfur, domestic and international poverty, AIDS, climate change as well as the candidates own faith and moral convictions. 

Other nationally prominent members of the Compassion Forum Board include Dr. Paul R. Corts, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities; Dr. Joel Hunter, Northland A Church Distributed; Rev. Richard Cizik, National Association of Evangelicals; Dr. Oran P. Smith, Palmetto Family Council; Father Larry Snyder, Catholic Charities USA; Rabbi Steve Gutow, Jewish Council for Public Affairs; Gary Haugen, International Justice Mission; David Neff, Christianity Today; Rev. Jim Wallis, Sojourners; Rev. Dr. Tyrone S. Pitts, Progressive National Baptist Convention; Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Rev. David Beckmann, Bread for the World; Rabbi David Saperstein, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; Rev. Dr. Vashti McKenzie, African Methodist Episcopal Church; and Sammy Mah, World Relief.

The event was coordinated by Faith in Public Life, a national nonpartisan, nonprofit resource and communication center for faith leaders based in Washington, D.C. Please visit Faith in Public Life's blog for video from the event and issue specific information. 

CNN aired the event on Sunday night live, and has video online that can be found here.

Eboo Patel founder of the Interfaith Youth Core in Chicago, IL and a representative of the Muslim community also had the opportunity to ask Senator Clinton a question.  His reactions to the forum can be found in his entry at the OnFaith Blog; Obama at the Compassion Forum.

The full transcript of the event can be found here.