We interrupt this sabbatical...

...for a message worth reading, from the pen of Eric Alterman via The Nation. Here's a nice teaser:

The moronic level of cable discourse notwithstanding, missing from almost all discussions of the role of religion in public life is what William James famously termed the "varieties of religious experience." The right-wing hijacking of religion's public role in our political discourse is as undeniable as it is inappropriate, and represents one of liberalism's most serious problems.

Is it possible that the Bush-Cheney PR nosedive (ports management, documentation of pre-Katrina briefing, plunging poll numbers) is somehow related to a reconsideration of the left about what religion means for those of us for whom it means something? We'll stay tuned for more hints of this, even in our sabbatical mode.