Impolite Conversation: Religion And Politics

This month on Impolite Conversation we chat with the Very Reverend (and longtime Dan-friend) Barkley Thompson about trying to approach the political realm as a Christian rather than a partisan. His new book is In the Midst of the City: The Gospel and God's Politics. And then we break format to shamelessly promote Tim's new book with Heather Yates of the University of Central Arkansas, The Hollywood Connection: The Influence of Fictional Media and Celebrity Politics on American Public Opinion. (Makes a great stocking stuffer!) And in One Last Thing, Dan mourns the passing of Stan Lee and Tim dances on the grave of the Florida felon disenfranchisement law. Some of the things we talked about in this episode: Reverend Thompson mentioned his love for Wendell Berry and Flannery O'Connor, especially the short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find." Reverend Thompson also alluded to Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone and Paul Tillich's discussion of "ultimate concern." Tim mentioned Bernard Cohen's famous assertion that "