'Religious Left' Leader Leaves NYC Church, Plans National Effort
Friday, Jun. 8, 2007 Posted: 3:06:38PM EST
NEW YORK (AP) - The Rev. James A. Forbes Jr. plans to mark his retirement from leading one of the nation's most prominent liberal Protestant churches by moving on to a broader ministry - traveling the country exhorting Americans to become political "healers."
"If people hear the call to be healers, then the healing that God will provide will make America the kind of nation we want to pass on to our children," Forbes said Wednesday at a ceremony honoring his 18 years as senior minister of the Riverside Church.
"When a critical mass of citizens in the United States are committed to being healing influences ... we will discover that the policies of the nation can turn from war to peace," said Forbes, who has gained national attention for his efforts to provide a progressive alternative to the religious right. He has hosted a weekly show on the liberal radio network Air America since last year.
Forbes, 71, said he would encourage people around the U.S. to commit to addressing a specific issue _ such as healing the environment, working for peace, erasing racism or battling homophobia.
At Riverside, Forbes hosted such figures as Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro, and some prominent supporters contributed to Wednesday's ceremony.
"I know Dr. Forbes will continue to bring people together and to inspire them to action," former President Bill Clinton said in a video tribute.
In another video, Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu called the minister a "dedicated activist and distinguished humanist." Noting Forbes was the first black minister to lead the grand Gothic-style Manhattan church, Tutu recalled watching one of his televised sermons.
"I was mesmerized," he said.
Princeton University professor Cornel West called Forbes' tenure "a grand experiment."
"My respect for you is immeasurable," he said. "What vision. What courage. What determination."
The son of a Pentecostal preacher, Forbes was the product of a conservative, evangelical upbringing in country churches in the Deep South in the 1940s. He has said he believes evangelicals and fundamentalists are receptive to progressive ideas and can be persuaded to focus on poverty.
In 2004, the minister toured the nation in an effort to make poverty a greater issue in that year's elections and spoke in support of John Kerry. He also has worked to recruit and train preachers to answer conservatives in the media.
At Wednesday's ceremony, former New York City Mayor David Dinkins lauded what he called Forbes' "activist ministry."
"His fearlessness and his frankness and his honesty and his humor ... we have received those gifts thankfully," Dinkins said. "Hearing the truth as the Rev. Dr. Forbes has shared it has helped us to be better people."
Reflecting on his time at Riverside, which was built overlooking the Hudson River by John D. Rockefeller Jr., Forbes told his congregants that he could not take full credit for his work.
"I felt like I was a paint brush in the hands of the Lord," he said. "And I stood in amazement at what God could paint with this color of mine and that color of yours."
