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ATLANTA - Four preeminent Atlanta religious leaders will come to Georgia State University Feb. 6 to address the role of religion in working to solve pressing issues and problems facing the city in the 21st century.
The moderated conversation, “Moving Atlanta to Higher Ground: How Religion Inspires Positive Change,” will be held at 6 p.m. Feb. 6 at the Rialto Center for the Arts, 80 Forsyth St. N.W., with a reception at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The session is the second annual Religion and Public Life event of Georgia State’s Department of Religious Studies.
The event, moderated by Ted Hall of WXIA-TV, includes the Rev. Joanna Adams of Morningside and Trinity Presbyterian churches; Imam Plemon El-Amin of Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam; the Rev. Joseph Roberts of Ebenezer Baptist Church and Rabbi Alvin Sugarman of The Temple in Atlanta.
Leaders speaking at the event will address pressing issues facing Atlanta, including homelessness, political partisanship, gun control and racial division in the city.
They are part of the Higher Ground Group, formed in 2010 to share common experiences and legacies built as leading voices for the religious leaders’ congregations and positive change in their communities.
“Each member of the Higher Ground Group has a history of working successfully in interfaith contexts to address serious problems that face Atlanta,” said Kathryn McClymond, professor and chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Georgia State.
“On Feb. 6, we’ll get to ‘eavesdrop’ on them, and I hope people will come away with a better understanding of how intimately religion is involved in effective civic action in our city,” she said.
For a map and directions to the Rialto Center for the Arts, visit www.music.gsu.edu/locations.aspx. For more about the Department of Religious Studies at Georgia State, visit www2.gsu.edu/~wwwrel/.
Jan. 23, 2013