Revolution and Religion: The Fight For Emancipation and The Role Of Religion

On November 15, 2014, at 3:00-7:00 pm (doors open at 1:30), an unprecedented event will take place at the Riverside Church in New York City. BOB AVAKIAN, a revolutionary communist leader, will be in dialogue with DR. CORNEL WEST, a revolutionary Christian. The topic of their exchange is "REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: THE FIGHT FOR EMANCIPATION AND THE ROLE OF RELIGION."

Sponsored by: Revolution Books and The Bob Avakian Institute. Tickets: General $25, Students/youth/unemployed/underemployed $15, Premium Benefit Tickets $100, Premium Benefit Tickets $250.

Tickets and information online or at Revolution Books, 146 W. 26 Street, (212) 691-3345.

The subject of the Dialogue, "the fight for emancipation and the role of religion," impacts the lives of billions of people across the planet, and both speakers have written extensively on the question. Dr. Cornel West, Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary in New York, just released a new book this month Black Prophetic Fire, and the e-book version of Bob Avakian's Away With All Gods: Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World, will be available soon.

This will be a rare chance to see Bob Avakian live and in person, speaking about the prospects for revolution and what transformations have to be undertaken to truly get free of the terrible confines of the present system.

What is required of people of conscience in the fight for emancipation? What is a life worth living in a world of suffering? What is religion's role in fighting injustices and advancing towards truly emancipatory social revolution? Can religion help or is it a hindrance? These are some of the questions Avakian and West will explore, sharing points of unity as well as difference with a broad audience.

Annie Day from The Bob Avakian Institute: "For decades, revolution has been written off the map, yet the world is a horror, worse today than ever before. This Dialogue between two visionary and outspoken thinkers aims to put the possibility of real revolution back into the public discourse, raising sights about what people see as possible and necessary. Cornel West is widely recognized as one of the most provocative and important public intellectuals in the country and Bob Avakian, the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, is the architect of a whole new framework for the emancipation of humanity.

Interest in the Dialogue is exceptionally wide-ranging, evidenced in part by the Host Committee of esteemed academics, artists, theologians, and parents of children killed by the police. They include former U.S. poet laureate Robert Hass; Dr. Donald Shriver, President Emeritus of Faculty, Union Theological Seminary, NY; actors Ed Asner and Peter Coyote; Grammy award-winning musician Arturo O'Farrill; author and professor Kwame Anthony Appiah (NYU); and Carl Dix, revolutionary and co-initiator of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network. Click here to view the full Host Committee, and click here to read statements from Alice Walker, Ngugi wa Thiong'o and many others.