From Obama's Faith and Values

From Obama's Faith and Values:

Obama, McCain Set for First Joint Election Appearance at California Megachurch [Fox News]:
Barack Obama and John McCain have agreed to their first joint general election appearance, meeting at Saddleback Church on Aug. 16 for a two-hour forum that is being billed as a “non-debate,” according to the church. Founding pastor and moderator Rick Warren will exclusively pose questions during the Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion to the presumptive presidential nominees. Warren will speak with each candidate for one hour, reads a press release on the event. Promising to avoid “‘gotcha’ questions that typically produce heat instead of light,” Warren said he would focus on how the candidates’ make their leadership decisions rather than having them staking out their political positions, the release states.

League of Conservation Voters Endorses Obama [Eilperin -- The Washington Post]:
Yet another influential environmental group endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president today in his contest against his GOP rival John McCain. The League of Conservation Voters, which rates congressional members voting records each year, announced its support for Obama in a series of events across the country today. "Senator Obama's proven record and his commitment to a clean, renewable energy future make him the best choice for President," LCV president Gene Karpinski said in a statement. "At a time when this country must reinvent itself for a new energy future, we can imagine no better steward than Barack Obama. Under his leadership, America will finally achieve the economic growth, environmental protection, and national security that are possible with a new, clean energy economy."

Young American Muslims hope to help, educate [Karoub -- AP]:
They filled the cafe night after night. To the casual observer, it might have appeared to be a roomful of 20-somethings with enviable amounts of idle time. Yet the 30 young Muslim men and women who met for 30 days had serving society, not socializing, on their minds. And the group calling itself 30/30 emerged from the meetings with an agenda: to help teens in their community deal with social ills such as drug and alcohol addiction and mental illness — and to teach those on the outside about their faith. A few goals emerged from the caffeinated conversations, now being fine-tuned in follow-up sessions: Establish mentorship and counseling programs for high school students, offer leadership retreats for young adults and develop brochures that explain Muslim practices such as women wearing head scarves.