Florida politicians, clergy hold 'Summit of Faith' Religion Today Thursday, December 16, 1999 Florida politicians and clergy put aside their differences to join in a "Summit of Faith" recently. The two-hour public event, which drew 100 people to Tallahassee, was meant to address the problem of Florida's "spiritual poverty," coordinator and former state official Jim Towey said. Towey, a Catholic, is organizing a project called Awakening 2000. Its participants sign pledge cards that remind them to pray and reach out to poor people. Towey cited the increased incidence of child abuse and the widening economic disparity among people as signs of spiritual need, the Miami Herald said. The group is not trying to "Christianize government," but it is healthy to have people of faith "celebrating what they agree on," Towey said. Speakers included Gov. Jeb Bush, House Speaker John Thrasher, and Major Harding, chief justice of the state Supreme Court. Thrasher bemoaned the fact that political figures encounter "mockery, and even condemnation" when they speak openly about their faith. Bush described his push for financial support for the mentally disabled. Harding described how he and his wife read the Bible together over breakfast. Religious leaders participating included Bill Bright, a Presbyterian, of Campus Crusade for Christ; Walter Richardson, pastor of Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church; Rabbi Solomon Schiff of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami; and Archbishop John Favalora of the Miami Roman Catholic Archdiocese. "We must turn back to the God of our fathers. There is no one else who can help us," Bright said.

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