The pastor who delivered the inaugural prayer last year for President Donald Trump said Sunday there should be no separation between church and state.
During live coverage of the “Rededicate 250” event at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Reverend Lorenzo Sewell joined Real America’s Voice to celebrate 250 years of independence when host Ben Bergquam mentioned how far the U.S. has come since slavery and Sewell was asked what he thinks about the popular American standard of separation between church and state.
“Well, Jesus was a politician,” said Sewell. “Jesus was crucified for a political crime. ‘You’re no friend of Caesar.’ Jesus on his crucifix, it said that he was a king, right? So we’re a country whereby our founding fathers understood we can’t be a country that has a civil law without a moral law.”
The argument echoed that of the Religious Liberty Commission, a federal advisory body formed by Trump, that is arguing against the separation of church and state, and advocating for more religious expression in public schools and more legal exemptions.
“They knew one was able to inform the other,” Sewell said about the laws of man and those of God. “They would have never had this false dichotomy of the church and the state. They would have said, ‘No, the church needs to be leading the state.’”
In a promotional video for the event, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said: “Our founders knew two simple truths: Our rights don’t come from government, they come from God. And a nation is only as strong as its faith.”
The conservative lineup also featured Secretary of State Marco Rubio, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Vice President JD Vance. In a pre-recorded message that was used last month during a Bible-reading event, Trump read a passage of Scripture.
Sewell last year quoted Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech during Trump’s inaugural prayer. He was called out by the late civil right leader’s daughter, Bernice King, who said at the time, “I don’t deny the power of my father’s most well-known speech.”
“However, its power and popularity (with focus on its conclusion) have been misused to weaken its clear messaging about ending racism, stopping police brutality, ensuring voting rights, and eradicating economic injustice,” Bernice King wrote. “Why didn’t Pastor Lorenzo Sewell pray these parts of the Dream during President Trump’s inauguration?”
Sewell was skewered rather brutally for his anti-church and state separation on social media.