c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ President Clinton _ saying it”requires spiritual depth, spiritual resources, spiritual conviction”to affect real societal change _ Thursday (Nov. 20) urged religious leaders gathered at the White House to support his yearlong effort to aid racial reconciliation.

Meeting over a breakfast of fruit, eggs and turkey sausages, the president said race relations are likely to become even trickier in the future as the nation continues to become more racially and ethnically diverse.”Within probably 50 years, but perhaps sooner, there will be no single racial group in the majority in the entire United States,”the president, citing demographic studies, told the Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other religious leaders gathered in the State Dining Room.

Americans need to decide today how they will deal with the myriad of problems arising from the nation’s racial diversity, Clinton said.”And I am persuaded that we will be an infinitely better, stronger nation if that decision is informed by, driven by, embraced by and advanced by people of faith in our country,”he added.

Nearly a half-year ago, Clinton announced a yearlong campaign to aid racial reconciliation and appointed a special advisory panel on race. However, until now the campaign has gone slowly, although the advisory panel did hold a hearing on racial issues in higher education Wednesday (Nov. 19) in College Park, Md.

The president also is scheduled to moderate a town hall-style meeting on race Dec. 3 in Akron, Ohio, and a flurry of other events related to the campaign were announced Wednesday.”We need more action on this than I think has taken place so far,”said Denise Taft Davidoff, moderator of the Boston-based Unitarian Universalist Association, who attended the White House breakfast.”This initiative needs more initiative if it is going to be at all successful.” Conservative critics also faulted the advisory panel for reportedly excluding opponents of affirmative action from Wednesday’s hearing, even though the issue is a current hot topic in higher education. The Clinton administration generally supports race-based affirmative action.

The issue also did not come up at Thursday’s White House breakfast, even as the president noted the importance of education to overcoming racial stereotypes and improving economic opportunities for minorities, according to those who attended the closed-door gathering. Reporters were escorted from the event following Clinton’s opening remarks.”There wasn’t a contrary word spoken by anyone,”said the Rev. James Dunn, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, a Washington-based public policy agency supported by 11 national Baptist groups.

Dunn, who has attended all five of the breakfasts for religious leaders that Clinton has convened during his presidency, said this latest gathering was more racially diverse than previous meetings.

Virtually every major black church denomination, as well as the American Muslim Society, the nation’s largest African-American Muslim group, was represented, Dunn noted.

Following the breakfast, a small number of the invitees also met privately with the Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook, an American Baptist minister on the staff of the advisory panel on race. Attendees also were urged to submit suggestions for advancing racial reconciliation to the advisory board.

While the conversation with the president was generally broad, participants said it was still worthwhile to exchange views with Clinton.”The feeling at the breakfast was healing,”said the Rev. Barbara King of Atlanta’s nondenominational Hillside Chapel and Truth Center.”Knowing the president cares about the issue of race in and of itself is healing for the nation.” The invitation list for the breakfast spanned the theological spectrum. And for the first time, the head of the predominantly homosexual Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches _ the Rev. Elder Troy D. Perry _ was among the guests at the White House breakfast for religious leaders.

MJP END RIFKIN