Recently in Greenberg Center Category

Anyone interested in learning why yr humble editor is a danger to youth, look here.

When I started up this blog a year ago, the idea was to do a time-limited experiment. A few academics, students of religion and politics chosen for expertise in different areas, would comment more or less regularly on religion and the campaign, for the campaign's duration. It didn't quite work out that way. I did sign up some co-conspirators, but for reasons best known to them, they didn't prove to be very interested in participated in what, I guess, was pretty clearly my show. I can't say I blame them. The blog quickly established itself as one of those quick-reaction affairs, staying as close to the news cycle as it could, given the constraints of time and energy. The sensibility was journalistic, reflecting my own years as an editorial writer and columnist. Academics tend to march to a deliberate beat. After a while, I stopped bugging the others to post. I faced up to its being an expression of my own interests, values, sensibility, and prejudices. With the help of one or another of the Greenberg Center's undergraduate fellows, I've done it alone.

What to do now that the campaign's over? While recognizing that I may simply be suffering from the withdrawal symptoms currently being satirized in Doonesbury, I've decided not to hang up my links and retire from the field. I've had too much fun doing it, derive too much narcissistic pleasure from doing it, and have at least some reason to think that there's enough of an audience interested in my doing it. (If there are those who wish to send me their yea or nay, I'd be more than happy to hear from them, at mark.silk@trincoll.edu.) So for a while at least, Spiritual Politics will be continuing, with a subhead to indicate that its subject will now be religion and American political culture generally, or some such thing. We'll let the sometime co-conspirators gracefully exit the masthead, and arrange a redesign that will, I hope, improve upon the slapped-together look we have, and provide some of the usual accouterments of blogs, such as lists of other relevant websites and a blogroll. I don't expect to be posting as frequently. Certainly there will be less of what Steve Waldman calls poll candy, which leaves some with a bad taste in their mouths anyway. Otherwise, we'll see how it goes.

The new issue of Religion in the News is now online. My editor's column deals with region and the campaign but otherwise, we've taken a break from electoral politics. Particularly worthy of note is Ron Kiener's cover story on Agriprocessors, the kosher meatpacking plant raided by the feds, and Gene Gallaher's article on the Fundamentalist Mormon compound raided by the Texans. Andrew Walsh's account of the twilight of the religion beat is must reading for all who care about such things. Tomorrow I'll be down in Washington for the religious freedom conference, so enjoy!

If you're interested, I'll be talking (presumably via a soundbite or two) about the impact of Sarah Palin on religious/geographic voting blocs on the CBS Evening News this evening at 6:30. Byron Pitts reporting.

Update: Wall Street 1, Palin religious impact, 0. Story to air later in the week.