On February 1, 2016 the Religion and Public Life Program (RPLP) at Rice University hosted a lively panel discussion. Titled "The Black Church and Politics," this event covered a wide range of topics, from political leaders' involvement in churches to the Black Lives Matter movement to the defeat of Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) in 2015. All panelists agreed that the "Black church" is extremely diverse theologically and in other ways. As one of the panelists expressed, "it is not a monolithic reality."

RPLP Director Elaine Howard Ecklund moderated the discussion, which featured diverse viewpoints from Marcus D. Cosby, senior pastor of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church; Korie Edwards, associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University; and Omar McRoberts, associate professor of sociology at University of Chicago.