What Pete Buttigieg and Tom Steyer had to say to a room filled with people of faith

LAS VEGAS — The Rev. Alvin Herring believes in the power of a good conversation. No matter whether he’s helping people register to vote, increase census participation or expand religion’s role in the public square, he thinks talking with neighbors about why it matters is the starting point for large-scale change.

It’s no surprise, then, that the Rev. Herring, who serves as executive director of Faith in Action, a multiracial and multifaith community organizing network, was more interested in “exchanging ideas” with the top presidential candidates who appeared at his...