Can politics and religion ever really be separated?

Congregations around America are becoming increasingly polarized. Since the 2016 presidential election, 73% of Americans have said they feel the country is more divided than previous generations. Contributing to that feeling of division are one’s political views and one’s faith informed by one’s race, gender, age, place of origin and economic status.

Since President Jefferson’s 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists who wrote expressing concern over the lack of explicit protection of religious liberty and against a government establishment of religion, the term “wall of separation” between church and state was introduced to ease such concerns. New York Times best-selling author and global spiritual leader Bishop T.D. Jakes will lead this highly-anticipated conversation on this discordant issue and its effects more than two centuries later.

Bishop T.D. Jakes has brought together some of the nation’s most influential figureheads to sit on one stage to discuss these issues to an audience of prominent faith and community leaders. On Thursday, April 27, 2017, at 6:00 p.m. CT, “Global Think Tank: The Polemics of Politics & the Pulpit: Rightly Dividing Between Church and State” will be held at the 2017 International Pastors & Leadership Conference in Dallas.

The panel will begin a conversation exploring the role of the church within the political arena. Guests include April Ryan (White House Correspondent), Paula White (Donald Trump Spiritual Adviser and Chair of the Presidential Evangelical Advisory Board), Joshua DuBois (Former White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships Director under President Barack Obama), Father Michael Pfleger (Senior Pastor, The Faith Community of Saint Sabina and highly recognized for work on equality and injustice), and Bishop Harry Jackson (Senior Pastor of Hope Christian Church and serves on Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory board.)