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FAITH
& PUBLIC POLICY BREAKFASTS
PAST PROGRAMS
Here is a history of the Faith and Public Policy breakfasts held typically on the first Saturday morning of the month at Lewinsville Presbyterian Church, McLean, Virginia. The series was launched in the fall of 2003. Anyone is invited to submit suggestions for topics and/or speakers to Coordinator Ray Martin, email martinrs@aol.com, phone 703-556-0123.
~ 2008 ~
Saturday, February 2, 2008 - Religion, Reason, and the Press. John Walcott, McClatchy Washington Bureau Chief (formerly Knight Ridder newspapers)
~~ 2007 ~~
December 1, 2007 - Communicating your Views Effectively to Political Leaders. Panel:
- Dave Morrison, Chief of Staff , House Budget Committee - "How best to get your point across to U.S. Congressmen and Senators"
- Rev. C. Douglas Smith, Executive Director, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy -"How best to get your point across to members of the Commonwealth of Virginia legislature"
- Questions and discussion: Panelists: Mr. Morrison, Mr. Smith, and Mr. John Horejsi of SALT.
October 13, 2007 - Elise Young, Regional Organizer, Bread for the World on A Faith-Based Perspective on the Current Farm Bill Debate: Why We Should Care? What We Can Do?
June 2, 2007 – Representative Frank Wolf, R-VA, on "The influence of religion on current public policy debates – A legislator’s perspective"
May 5, 2007 – David Morrison, Democratic Staff Director of the House Appropriations Sub-Committee on Defense, on “Can Christian Oppose War and Support the Troops?”
March 3, 2007 – Delegate Vincent Callahan, Jr., northern Virginia delegate to Virginia House of Delegates, on “What Happened in Richmond? Report on the Just Concluded 2007 Virginia General Assembly”
February 10, 2007 – Burton Gerber, retired CIA case officer and Chief of Station, on “Ethics of Intelligence in the Age of Terror”
~~ 2006 ~~
December 2, 2006 - Members of the Board of Directors, Chesterbrook Residences, Inc. (Jerry Hopkins, Lewinsville Presbyterian Church, Jane Edmondson, Lewinsville Presbyterian Church, Don DiLoreto, Immanuel Presbyterian Church, and Judy Seiff, Temple Rodef Shalom) on “Good Deeds and Punishment: Creating an Affordable Assisted Living Facility for Low-Income Seniors - Do Faith Communities Have the Desire and Endurance to Develop Special Needs Facilities in No. Va.?”
October 28, 2006 – An Inconvenient Truth (a documentary about global warming narrated by Al Gore followed by discussion of a faith response), with response from John Theon and general discussion
October 7, 2006 - Rev. Henry Brinton, author and Senior Pastor at the Fairfax Presbyterian Church, on “Author talk: Balancing Acts: Obligation, Liberation, and Contemporary Christian Conflicts”
June 3, 2006 – Terrence Brown, a patent attorney, on “U.S. Patent Laws – Costing or Saving Lives? – Justice, Values, and Balancing of Human Needs”
April 1, 2006 - C. Douglas Smith, Director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, on "Stepping into the Breech; Lessons Katrina Didn't Mean to Teach Us"
March 4, 2006 – D. Jeffrey Lenn, Professor of Strategic Management and Public Policy, School of Business at George Washington University, on “The Role of Ethics in Restoring Confidence in American Business”
February 4, 2006 – Elenora Giddings Ivory, Director PC(USA) Washington Office on “Towards a Comprehensive Immigration Policy”
~~ 2005 ~~
November 5, 2005 – Capt. Linton Brooks, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration and Undersecretary of Energy for Nuclear Security, on “American Nuclear Policy in the 21st Century: Ethical, Practical and Policy Issues”
June 4, 2005 - Lindsay Moseley of The National Religious Partnership for the Environment, on “Environmental Protection and Conservation as a Spiritual Imperative”
May 7, 2005 - Jim Perry of Coop America, producers of the Green Pages, on
“The why and how of responsible consuming”
April 2, 2005 award winning documentary PAPER CLIPS, followed by discussion with LPC’s own Bob Johnson, producer of this remarkable film story
March 5, 2005 - C. Douglas Smith, Director, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, on “Struggling for Virginia’s New Political Conscience”
February 5, 2005 - Elenora Giddings Ivory, Director, Presbyterian Washington Office, on “Speaking Truth to Power”
~~ 2004 ~~
June 5, 2004 - Dr. Anita Everett, M.D., Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, DHHS, and Former Inspector General for Mental Health for Virginia, and Dr. Joseph P. Collins, Jr., D.O., Asst. Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown University School of Medicine, and Director of Medical Services, St. Luke’s Institute on “Accessing Mental Health on Earth and Beyond”
May 1, 2004 - Sue Capers, Virginia Coalition for the Homeless, and Fannie Mae's 2002 Good Neighbor Awardee on "Affordable Housing: the American Dream or Myth: What we are doing and what we should be doing in Virginia”
March 6, 2004 - C. Douglas Smith, Director, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy on “Seeking Consensus: a Faith Perspective on Virginia Tax Reform”
February 7, 2004 - Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth on “Smart Growth – Why Does It Matter to Faith Communities”
~~ 2003 ~~
November 1, 2003 - Stu Mendelsohn, Dranesville District (McLean, Great Falls, Herndon) Supervisor on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, on “Perspectives on issues of concern to people of faith”
Date and Time: Saturday, May 5, 2007, 8:30 – 10:15 AM
Location: Chapel - Lewinsville Presbyterian Church
Speaker: David Morrison, Democratic Staff Director of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense
Topic: Can Christians both oppose war and support our troops?
Lewinsville’s monthly Faith and Public Policy breakfasts from time to time feature prominent Presbyterians with distinguished careers involving public policy and the challenge of grappling with the interface between their faith and the demands of their jobs.
David is Presbyterian but also had strong links with pacifist Quakers in his youth. In his job, however, he is responsible for legislation funding the U.S. military, which is as costly as the militaries of all the rest of the world combined. He was the chief author of the current House appropriations bill that would provide funding for the Iraq war but link it to benchmarks aimed at a troop withdrawal by next year. He reports to Rep. John Murtha, (D-Pa), a high profile opponent of the current U.S. war in Iraq. As more and more people conclude that this war was a mistake, how can the U.S. respond appropriately, but in a manner that does not jeopardize the safety of U.S. troops in Iraq, hopefully minimizing the suffering for Iraqis as well?
David will explore the tensions between a faith-oriented opposition to war and the public policy demands of his position writing legislation to fund the U.S. military.
Everyone is invited. Tell your neighbors and friends. Contact the church, 703-356-7200, or Ray Martin for details or directions, 703-556-0123, email martinrs@aol.com.
LOOKING AHEAD:
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va) will be the speaker at the June 2
Faith and Public Policy breakfast.
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For more information, contact Ray Martin,
703-556-0123