Religion and Democracy

This week all of my “spare” time (like I ever have any!) is caught up with work for the nominations committee of our local DFL party. I don’t think I’ve ever been quite so involved in a party process (besides when I was working for Dagmar), and I’m surprised by how much fun I’m having meeting new people. In any case, I’ve been thinking a lot about religion and public life, and about how people of faith interact with political processes. Some resources I’ve been pondering include the Center for Religion and Democracy (a scholarly site), Cynthia Moe Lobeda’s new book “Public church: For the life of the world,” and recent essays in the Journal of Lutheran Ethics (an online, free journal). There must be profound ways for people of faith to live out of our calling in the public sphere, and to do so in ways that bring more than simply ugly divisiveness (as has been so evident recently).