A few days ago I attended a press briefing presented by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Brookings Institution. Topic A was a presentation of a Pew survey on religion and the 2000 presidential election, followed by a panel discussion by representatives of various Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish groups of their own studies. And, surprise, we found that religion has indeed been a major element in these elections.

Some of the details inherent in the surveys are encouraging; some I find historically dislocating, others even troubling.

Under the subtitle of