March 24, 2008 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

SMC To Host ‘Faith and Justice’  Symposium 

SPARTANBURG – Spartanburg Methodist College will hold a symposium on ‘Faith and Justice’  on Wednesday, April 2. 

“Forty years after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Church still struggles with issues of economic and racial justice.  Sunday morning at 11:00 remains the most segregated hour in America.  Soup kitchens and food pantries often operate with too few resources and too much demand.  Issues like immigration, housing, and access to health care call for our faithful response,” says SMC Chaplain Candice Sloan.

“What is the Church’s role in addressing injustice?  How can individual churches respond in faith to the struggles before us?  This symposium will explore these and other questions relating to the issue of ‘Faith and Justice’,” adds Sloan. 

Through a series of seminars and discussions, participants will address some of the theoretical and practical challenges that are faced as people seek to better understand their role in bringing justice to places of worship, their communities, and the world. 

The Symposium schedule is as follows: 

• 11:00 a.m., Check-in—Burgess Student Center
• 12:00 p.m., Luncheon
• 12:30 p.m., Opening Address: 'Justice and Reconciliation between Christian Worshipers” — Dr. Terriel Byrd, Associate Professor of Urban Christian Ministry, Palm Beach Atlantic University and author of I Shall Not be Moved:  Racial Separation in Christian Worship.
• 1:30 - 2:20 p.m., Breakout Session 1
  • 1. Dr. Kris Pratt — Justice in the Cotton Patch:  Clarence Jordan on Economic and Racial Justice
    Professor, Spartanburg Methodist College
  • 2. Reverend Dr. Clayton Childers — Moving Beyond Charity to Justice
    General Board of Church and Society, The United Methodist Church
  • 3. Reverend Dr. Ed McDowell — Justice:  From Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, to the Present.  
    Pastor, Silver Hill United Methodist Church
• 2:30 - 3:20 p.m., Breakout Session 2  - (Selections listed above)
• 3:30 - 4:20 p.m., Breakout Session 3 - (Selections listed above)
• 4:30 - 5:30 p.m., Reception and Symposium Wrap-up.  Buchheit Board Room 

The registration deadline for the symposium is March 28.

For further information on the program or to register, please contact chaplain Candice Sloan at (864) 587-4282 or sloanc@smcsc.edu.

###