Summary: <p>In this podcast, <a href="http://www.francis.edu/arthur-remillard/">Art Remillard</a> speaks with <a href="http://internet2.trincoll.edu/facProfiles/Default.aspx?fid=1000783">Mark Silk</a> about religion and the 2012 presidential election. Silk is Professor of Religion in Public life at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and director of the <a href="http://www.trincoll.edu/Academics/centers/GreenbergCenter/Pages/default.aspx">Leonard E. Greenberg Center</a> for the Study of Religion in Public Life. Among his many publications, Silk co-edited an eight-volume <a href="https://rowman.com/Action/SERIES/RL/RRP">series</a> on religion and region, which culminated in his 2008 book, <em><a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742558458">One Nation, Divisible</a></em>, co-authored with <a href="http://internet2.trincoll.edu/facProfiles/Default.aspx?fid=1000778">Andrew Walsh</a>. Silk also blogs at ”<a href="http://www.religionnews.com/blogs/mark-silk">Spiritual Politics</a>,” which is hosted by the <a href="http://www.religionnews.com/">Religion News Service</a>. In this conversation, Silk begins by discussing his unique career path, from a doctorate in medieval history at Harvard, to the <em>Atlanta Journal-Constitution</em>, and then back to academia. He goes on to offer insight on the major themes of the presidential race, such as the gaining influence of the religiously unaffiliated (or ”<a href="http://www.pewforum.org/Unaffiliated/nones-on-the-rise.aspx">nones</a>”), Mitt Romney’s Mormonism, and the possible declining influence of the “evangelical vote.” This is the first of three podcasts recorded at the annual meeting of the <a href="http://www.aarweb.org/meetings/annual_meeting/Current_Meeting/default.asp">American Academy of Religion</a> in Chicago.</p>
