For this roundtable, Ashley the Editor wants us to write about whether religion is an appropriate basis for political belief. Of course, there is no such thing as generic religion; however, in the United States, there are lots and lots of very specific religions. But since I cannot answer for the Sufi Muslims or the Zen Buddhists or the neo-pagans out there, I’m going to address the question from the perspective of Orthodox Christianity. And from the perspective of this Orthodox priest, there is currently way too much religion in our politics.

For this roundtable, Ashley the Editor wants us to write about predestination and free will. I’ll get around to that topic eventually, but, first, I need to say a couple of things about the assignment itself.