Adding a few sources for those post-midterms thumbsuckers on the religion beat

When the dust has (thankfully) settled following Election Day, writers on politics, and on religion, and on religion-and-politics, will be analyzing what it all means for the future direction of U.S. culture.

Some matters on the agenda:

* Are the results a fluke, or a trend? What do they signal about 2024? Is the “religious right” a growing or receding force? How will the expected Trump 2024 campaign affect evangelicalism? What will Trumpism be post-Trump? Did the abortion issue hurt Republicans? Did religious liberty issues hurt Democrats? How do moral concerns shape inflation? Immigration? Crime? Ukraine?

* Then factions. What’s going on with the pivotal white Catholics? And Hispanic Catholics? Can Republicans ever make inroads among Black Protestants? Did religiously interesting new figures emerge among the Republicans’ record number of minority candidates?

* Here is a growing niche that should get its own sidebar: How crucial are non-religious voters for Democrats’ prospects?

* Oh, and how should journalists define “Christian nationalism” and how influential is that crowd anyway?

* And whatever else develops.

Specialists will be familiar with ReligionLink, a valuable service of the Religion News Association that, among other features, posts periodic memos on a specific topic in the news, providing detailed background, links to articles and proposed sources. Subscribe for free here.

Its October 18 posting laid out he midterm elections, listing no less than 76 background items from varied media and 25 expert sources. This material will remain just as useful for those post-election analyses next week and beyond.

For an event that included six panels featuring more than 30 speakers of all shapes, sizes and colors of the faith rainbow for the benefit of 123 journalists, the two-day event went off amazingly well.

The one downside was a sobering report on the dwindling finances of the RNA. More on that in a moment.

Overseeing the event was RNA’s COO, Tiffany McCallen, who –- with one helper doing tech assistance -– was running the affair from a location near Columbus, Ohio that had excellent internet. I was on the conference committee, so was privy to some of the immense amount of planning needed to stage the event. In addition to panels on everything from race to the mental health of clergy during the COVID-19 era, there were “green rooms” for new members, those who wanted to do karaoke and a virtual bar. The latter was a salute to former days when RNA’ers would gather in a hotel room after the awards banquet and load up on liquor.

The virtual event was much tamer, believe me.

I helped plan the first panel of the conference, which was on whether churches, temples or synagogues should be considered “essential services” that should not be shut because of COVID-19. Robert Tyler, a lawyer who has represented many California congregations that wish to remain open, told us that because religious services aren’t available, suicide calls went up 800% in one part of Los Angeles County.

Other panelists talked about how problematic it is to try singing in a mask, even though public singing seems to be one of the chief way COVID-19 is transmitted. “It’s not about essential or non-essential,” said Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback of the Stephen Wise Temple in Bel Air, Calif., another panelist. “It’s about keeping people safe.” Not surprisingly, he added, “The national leadership on this has been terrible.”

The most humorous of the speakers was the Rev. Alvin Gwynn, Sr., a Baltimore pastor who ordered police out of his church when they tried to stop services last spring. The officials were so confused as to what was and was not allowed, Gwynn had to call the governor’s office to get a straight answer.

Following this was a panel on clergy health, where unfortunately only six minutes was left for questions from journalists. The moderator seemed mystified as to how to work Zoom, meaning most of our questions in the queue never got posed. The panel, which featured an imam from Memphis, a rabbi from Atlanta and care coordinator at a Christian counseling center in Lancaster, Pa., was quite diverse. Fortunately, the rabbi, Pamela Gottfried, did speak to one of the topics under discussion: Whether people are leaving their congregations because of the coronavirus.

The short answer: Yes.