Faith, Politics, and the 2012 Election

The Charles and Rosemary Licata Lecture

Michael Gerson
Nationally syndicated columnist for the Washington Post and author

Drescher Graduate Campus Auditorium
Pepperdine University
Malibu, Californi

In a presidential race dominated by economic issues, the debate on faith and politics remains surprisingly relevant. Candidates have brought old time religion, as well as newer faiths, to the political discussion. At the same time, Evangelicals are undergoing a major transition, seeking a political identity beyond the religious right. The form this transition takes will have serious public consequence.

Michael Gerson is a nationally syndicated columnist who appears twice weekly in the Washington Post. He is the author of Heroic Conservatism and co-author of City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era. Gerson is a senior advisor at ONE, a bipartisan organization dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases.  From 2006 to 2009, Gerson was the Roger Hertog Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).  Before joining CFR in 2006, Gerson was a top aide to President George W. Bush as assistant to the president for policy and strategic planning.  Prior to that appointment, he served in the White House as deputy assistant to the president and director of presidential speechwriting. Gerson joined Bush's presidential campaign in early 1999 as chief speechwriter and a senior policy advisor.