The Riverside Church Hosts Cornel West, Rabbi Michael Lerner and Other Scholars for Panel Discussion Exploring the Direction of Progressive Moral Agenda for the 21st Century

NEW YORK, Jan. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In exploration of the revolutionary phenomenon that is the Occupy movement, The Riverside Church will host Dr. Cornel West, Rabbi Michael Lerner and other progressive scholars and forward thinkers for Occupy the Mind: Progressive Moral Agenda for the 21st Century, a panel discussion examining the future of the progressive movement on Sunday, January 22 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., in the Nave of The Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Drive (bet. 120th & 122nd Sts.), Morningside Heights.

At the event, the panel will feature the shared reflections and conversations of Dr. Cornel West; Union Theological Seminary President, Reverend. Dr. Serene Jones; Editor of Tikkun, Rabbi Michael Lerner; Professor Richard D. Wolff (U Mass); Professor James Vrettos (John Jay College); and Riverside's Interim Senior Minister, Reverend Stephen H. Phelps.

"In his 1967 speech Beyond Vietnam, Martin Luther King Jr. pressed again and again upon his listeners how America must undergo a 'true revolution of values,'" said Rev. Phelps.  "The Occupy movement is exactly about that kind of revolution.  It tells us that only a change of heart can steer America onto the road of the future.  Occupy the Mind aims to give everyone space to think and feel after what is needed for a true revolution of values.  Occupy the Mind is not an event. It is a learning lab."

As setting a progressive moral agenda is neither liberal nor conservative, the goal is to set a template by which people can work out differences of opinion while keeping shared core values as first priority—and to guard those shared values with nonviolent practices at every step.

Occupy the Mind is free, open to the public and will be live streamed on The Riverside Church website at www.theriversidechurchny.org.

The Riverside Church (www.theriversidechurchny.org) is an interracial, interdenominational and international church built by John D. Rockefeller Jr. in 1927.  The 1,200-member Riverside Church in Morningside Heights has a rich tradition of providing a forum for important civic and spiritual leaders. Past speakers include: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., President William J. Clinton, the Dalai Lama, Fidel Castro, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela.

SOURCE The Riverside Church