Ahead of the U.S. elections in November, evangelical groups will be meeting presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in a dialogue on June 21 to get to know him better.
"It's an opportunity for him to know more of this group better, for this group to know him better. It is conciliatory in tone," said Johnnie Moore, national spokesperson for My Faith Votes, a nonpartisan movement to encourage Christians to vote, Religion News Service reports.
The New York City event, called "A Conversation About America's Future," will be attended by about 900 conservative Christians, mostly evangelicals.
"The event will facilitate a conversation to allow faith leaders to better understand Mr. Trump as a person, his position on important issues and his vision for America's future, while also enabling him to better appreciate matters of importance to the faith community. In and through this meeting, we seek the presence and unity of the Holy Spirit," My Faith Votes states in a post that appeared on its Facebook page.
The meeting will be co-hosted by My Faith Votes and United in Purpose.
United in Purpose CEO Bill Dallas said the event grew out of the idea that "we as Christian leaders need to be dialoguing with whoever is going to be the next president of the United States."
Presumptive Democratic presidential bet Hillary Clinton will also be invited to a similar event.
The guest list, Dallas said, will include TV and radio personalities, Christians will large social media and grass roots reach and pastors of churches.
"We have some megachurch pastors that have churches of over 20,000 that are going to be in attendance, but we also have some churches that are smaller," he said.
Former Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd said in an op-ed piece on Fox News that he plans to attend the event even though Russell Moore, president of Southern Baptists' Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, has expressed strong dislike for Trump.
"I believe it is incumbent upon me to learn all I can about each candidate and their platform," Floyd said.
Moore said organisers have solicited questions for Trump from two million conservative Christians in the U.S. and got some 15,000 of such questions.
Dallas said topics that Christians are most concerned about include jobs and the economy, strong defence, Supreme Court justices, religious liberty and "life and the culture of life."
Ben Carson, honorary national chairman of My Faith Votes and former GOP presidential candidate, will moderate the discussion between Trump and the Christian leaders.
