Stopping in at the Mary Lou

filed at 2:53 p.m.

Generic Script

I stopped in at the Mary Lou Williams Center today for a brief discussion of "The Faithful Left" just after noon today. Sean Palmer, the Graduate Fellow at the center and a first year divinity student, led much of the discussion, which looked at the interplay of religion and politics in the 2008 election, and, of course, at Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

"We want to look at Barack not because of his Democratic stance, but because he represents this whole notion of African American political life," Palmer said. "We're looking at it from the perspective of the first African American candidate."

The center is offering food and entertainment throughout the day, as Will Robinson blogged about earlier.

Though only eight people attended the 12:30 discussion, Jamie Fleece, the center's marketing specialist, said she expects 100 students to show up to watch election returns on the center's large-screen television.