August 17, 2008 | 11:03 pm

Democrats continue coveting religious-minded voters

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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Sorry I’ve been fairly MIA since Friday. It’s been a nightmarish few days finishing up this week’s cover story. Never have I experienced the laws of inertia like I did the last two days.

That being said, I didn’t have the chance to liveblog the presidential forum at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church last night. Rod Dreher, Mark Silk and William Lobdell, however, did. But besides updating you on my status as still breathing, the purpose of this post was to share a link hinted at in the headline.

For the first time in its history the Democratic National Convention will include meetings for a faith caucus. The list of invocators and benedictors provided in a press release from Barack Obama’s campaign include Joel Hunter, an evangelical pastor who has challenged the Christian Right; Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism; Sister Catherine Pinkerton of the National Catholic Social Justice Lobby; Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of America; and Cameron Strang, who is publisher of the Christian pop culture magazine Relevant.

“Democrats have been, are and will continue to be people of faith—and this Convention will demonstrate that in an unprecedented way,” said Leah D. Daughtry, CEO of the DNCC. “As Convention CEO and a pastor myself, I am incredibly proud that so many esteemed leaders from the faith community will be with us to celebrate this historic occasion and honor the diverse faith traditions inside the Democratic Party.”