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Speakers Bureau
Tired of polarized debates and the same old rhetoric?
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice Speakers Bureau provides
civic and religious groups with engaging, thoughtful, and faithful views
on controversial issues. We have a variety of speakers who are experts on
subjects related to reproductive healthcare, reproductive choice, reproductive
justice, and religious freedom. Representing a range of religious backgrounds,
they can address issues from Christian, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist,
and interfaith perspectives. RCRC speakers are appropriate for a forum,
meeting, dinner, or rally, as well as other venues and events.
To learn more about having one of our speakers at your event, please contact the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice at 202-628-7700 x13 or fill our our webform.
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Rabbi
Amy Bigman was ordained by the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute
of Religion in 1992. She has served congregations in Michigan and Missouri
and has also served as the Assistant Director of the Ecumenical Institute
for Jewish - Christian Studies in Southfield, Michigan. Rabbi Bigman served
on the board and executive committee of the Missouri Religious Coalition for
Reproductive Choice and was the recipient of its 2007 President's Award.
Reverend
Anne Carroll Fowler is an Episcopal priest and Rector of St. John's Church in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. She is a former member of the Boards of Preterm and Planned Parenthood and of the Ethics Committee at Faulkner Hospital, a former chair of the Women-in-Crisis Committee and the Sexuality Study Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. She is a participant in the Public Conversations Project, the ongoing dialogue among "pro-life" and pro-choice leaders in Boston. She is currently President of the Board of the Massachusetts Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry, and co-convener of the Pro-Choice Religious Leadership Council of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
Reverend
Cedric A. Harmon is the Associate Field Director for Religious Outreach
at Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Washington, DC.
As the liaison to religious communities, religious leaders, clergy and congregations
nationwide, he encourages active and vocal involvement in matters of religion
in public life. He serves on the National Religious Leadership Roundtable,
the National Advisory Board of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the
Pacific School of Religion, the Advisory Committee of the National Black Church
Initiative of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and the African
American Clergy Council of the Human Rights Campaign. He is the Associate
Pastor of City of Refuge in Washington, DC.
Reverend
Bill Levering is a Presbyterian Church (USA) minister, a professor,
and an activist and scholar in the pro-choice religious community. Reverend
Levering has taught the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice's "Theology
of Reproductive Choice" course online and reactivated the Pennsylvania
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and served as its president through
2006. He also has been active on the Planned Parenthood Federation National
Clergy Advisory Board. He is senior pastor of the First Reformed Church in
Schenectady, New York, and has also served churches in Philadelphia, Haddonfield,
New Jersey, Binghamton, New York, and Oxford, Pennsylvania. He taught speech
and preaching at Princeton Theological Seminary and also taught at Lutheran
Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, The College of New Jersey, New Brunswick
Theological Seminary, and the State University of New York in Binghamton.
He holds a PhD in rhetoric and communication from Temple University and the
Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.
Rabbi
Bonnie Margulis holds a masters degree in Judaic Studies from New
York University and was ordained at Hebrew Union College in 1992. She is the
director of clergy programming for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive
Choice, where she runs the Clergy for Choice Network, a registry of more than
2,200 pro-choice clergy of all faiths around the country. She also oversees
the Religious Coalition's signature All Options Clergy Counseling training
program and provides training in both All Options Clergy Counseling and Pastoral
Counseling for Reproductive Losses. Rabbi Margulis is a member of Reform Judaism’s
Commission on Social Action, where she sits on the Women and Minorities Task
Force. She is also a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis Justice
and Peace Committee and chairs the Women’s Rabbinic Network Social Justice
Committee. In 1989, Rabbi Margulis was a legislative assistant at the Religious
Action Center of Reform Judaism, lobbying in coalition with other faith organizations
on behalf of Soviet Jewry and other refugee groups.
The
Reverend Dr. Paul Simmons is Clinical Professor in the Department of
Family and Geriatric Medicine at the University of Louisville School of Medicine
and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Philosophy, where he teaches
courses in Medical Ethics, Business Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, and Human
Rights. He is an ordained Baptist minister and Director of the Center for
Ethics in Ministry and Medicine, which he founded and heads. Simmons has contributed
to the national and international dialogue on medical ethics through his writings
on topics such as abortion, genetics, in-vitro fertilization, elective death
and health care. Reverend Dr. Simmons lectures and writes on a variety of
issues, including business ethics, sexuality and family, aging, peacemaking,
religious liberty, and values in education. He has written five books, including Birth and Death: Bioethical Decision-Making (Westminster Press, 1983)
and and The Southern Baptist Tradition: Religious Beliefs and Healthcare
Decisions (Chicago: Park Ridge Center, 2002). Mercer University Press
has accepted his book on Faith and Health: Religion, Science and Public
Policy for publication.
Reverend
Lloyd Steffen serves on the Board of Directors of the Religious Coalition
for Reproductive Choice. He has been Vice-Chair and is currently serving as
Secretary of the Board, and he represents the Religious Coalition at United
Nations Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) conferences. Reverend Steffen
is Professor of Religion Studies and University Chaplain at Lehigh University
in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He has lectured and written about reproductive
health issues and among his books are Life/Choice: The Theory of
Just Abortion (Pilgrim Press, 1994) and Abortion: A Reader (Pilgrim
Press, 1996), which presents the wide range of views on abortion in world
religions.
Reverend Dr. Carlton W. Veazey is President and CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and the founder of the Religious Coalition’s Black Church Initiative. The pioneering initiative is breaking the silence about sexuality in African American religious communities and creating new opportunities for African Americans to engage in the struggle for reproductive choice. A minister of the National Baptist Convention U.S.A., born in Memphis, Tennessee, he is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Howard University School of Divinity. From the earliest days when he ministered to migrants on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Reverend Veazey has had a commitment to advocacy for social justice. During his 33-year ministry at the historic Zion Baptist Church in Washington, DC, he developed and implemented numerous programs for children, teens, and senior adults. He is currently pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Washington, DC
Reverend
Matthew Westfox is the Northeast Regional Field Organizer for the
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. He also serves as Associate Pastor
of All Souls Bethlehem Church in Brooklyn, New York, and is ordained through
the United Church of Christ. Before attending seminary at Pacific School of
Religion, Reverend Westfox was a community organizer for New York Lawyers for
the Public Interest and a legislative aide for New York State Senator Thomas
K. Duane.
Reverend Penny Willis is the Director of the Multicultural Programs Department of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. She manages the National Black Church Initiative (which includes the National Black Religious Summit on Sexuality™), La Iniciativa Latina, and our Generation to Generation teen pregnancy prevention project. She leads the training and implementation of RCRC’s faith-based sexuality education dialogue models for hundreds of African American congregations through “Keeping It Real!” for teens and “Breaking the Silence” for adults. She is an experienced trainer and speaker on sexuality and justice, comprehensive sexuality education, and the church’s role in public and private discussions and decision-making on reproductive liberty and justice. She is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ. Prior to accepting a position with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Reverend Willis served as Associate Pastor with the Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church in Chicago, Illinois. She has long been active on reproductive health concerns, through her work as the Vice President and Project Coordinator with RCRC Illinois, Community Educator and Faith Outreach Coordinator for Planned Parenthood Chicago and the Clergy Advisory Board of the Planned Parenthood Foundation of America. She received her Master of Divinity from McCormick Theological Seminary and her Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice from Lewis University.
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If you would like to learn more about available RCRC speakers, please contact us at 202-628-7700 x 13 or info@rcrc.org. |
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