Bishop Harry Jackson, Jr. and Governor George Allen sat down recently with members of Bishop Jackson’s church to talk about the impact that rising energy prices have on families. (We highlighted one working mother’s experience in a video last week.)

Bishop Jackson is the pastor of a large Washington-area church and president of the High Impact Leadership Coalition. Governor Allen is a former governor and senator from Virginia, and now leads the American Energy Freedom Center. These “kitchen table” talks were co-sponsored by the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, a national a coalition of clergy, theologians, religious leaders, scientists, academics, and policy experts committed to bringing a balanced Biblical view of stewardship to the critical issues of environment and development.

Governor Allen advocates for abundant, affordable, American energy. He is concerned about the impact of higher energy prices on the poor.

Bishop Jackson sees people get their power cut off every winter because of the increasing cost of heating their homes. “The first place they come to is the church.” “This, he adds, “is one of the big moral issues of our day, in that we have to make sure that we include the poor” when considering massive changes to our national economy and energy policy.

Bishop Jackson continued, “Sometimes, what we have is a Prius-driving, latte-drinking group of elite people sitting around making decisions for all these people in our culture who never get a chance to speak for themselves.” These “kitchen table” discussions will allow us to hear from real people who are grappling with the real ramifications of decisions being made in Washington.

This is the first of five segments. All of the videos, including several poignant highlights, are being made available on a rolling basis at the Cornwall Alliance blog.