Both Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama have agreed to talk about faith and values at The Compassion Forum this Sunday at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania (nine days before the state's presidential primary). The bipartisan discussion will focus on the moral issues facing the nation and the world, and Clinton and Obama will be asked to highlight how their personal faith and moral convictions influence their positions on pressing global crises, including international poverty, the genocide in Darfur, and the AIDS epidemic. At this point, Republican presidential candidate John McCain doesn't plan to participate in the forum, but the invitation is still open.
Organizers hope the event will promote unity despite ideological and political differences, and they've emphasized that the forum is not intended to be a debate, but rather a conversation between each candidate and the voters. The candidates will also field questions from Newsweek editor Jon Meacham, CNN anchor Campbell Brown, and prominent members of the religious community. The event will be aired live from 8 to 9:30 p.m. EST on CNN's television channel and Web site. —Stephen Mapes