Slate Magazine has been running some interesting articles on religion and politics this week. On Monday Martin Edlund wrote about tensions on the religious left, contrasting the eccentric spiritual progressivism of Rabbi Michael Lerner witht the more moderate evangelicalism of Jim Wallis.

On Tuesday Russell Cobb reviewed Michelle Goldberg’s tract on impending theocracy in America and pointed out that the “religious right” is not nearly as monolithic nor as steeped in “Christian reconstructionism” as Goldberg would have it. Though he does concede that Goldberg’s “Christian nationalism” is a useful concept for understanding the union of conservative evangelicalism and ultra-patriotism that characterizes many members of the Christian right.

And yesterday there was a piece by John Dickerson on signs of a fallout between conservative Christians and the GOP. The Bush presidence may, Dickerson thinks, have been a high water mark for the influence (or perceived influence) of conservative evangelicals in the GOP. Future potential party leaders like John McCain or Mitt Romney are unlikely to have the same kind of relationship with the world of conservative evangelicalism that Bush has. Dickerson also points to signs of a certain disenchantment with electoral politics on the part of many Christian conservatives who are turning to a more apolitical style of social activism in the mold of Rick Warren’s efforts to fight AIDS in Africa.