This issue marks the first issue that we, the new editors, have assembled, although we bore no part in the processing of these manuscripts. Beginning in January of this year, we took the reins from Ted Jelen and Sabrina Ramet, five years after they launched the journal. In issue 1(1), they expressed the hopes that the journal would attract interdisciplinary work that covered the breadth of world politics and religions. Even a cursory review of volumes 1–4 documents the fulfilment of those hopes. We seek nothing less than a continuation of Ted and Sabrina's legacy and are thankful to them for providing us with a firm foundation for our term.
From our point of view, Politics and Religion is an international journal publishing high quality peer-reviewed research on the multifaceted relationship between religion and politics around the world. The scope of published work is intentionally broad and we invite innovative work from all methodological approaches in the major subfields of political science, including international relations, American politics, comparative politics, and political theory, that seeks to improve our understanding of religion's role in some aspect of world politics. We welcome normative and empirical investigations of the public representation of religion, the religious and political institutions that shape religious presence in the public square, and the role of religion in shaping citizenship, broadly considered, as well as pieces that attempt to advance our methodological tools for examining religious influence in political life.
As a result of a vote at the 2011 APSA Religion and Politics organized section meeting, the journal is expanding in 2013. Currently, Politics and Religion is published three times per year, but in 2013 this will increase to four issues per year. We will also increase the length of each issue from seven articles to eight. Moving to a quarterly publication will expedite publication of articles and ensure that the journal reflects the most current research.
Knowing that our workload will increase as a result of the move to four issues, one of our first acts as editors was to begin moving management of the production process to the online Editorial Manager Service. Aside from streamlining our workflow, we believe this will enhance the efficiency and transparency of the publication process for authors and reviewers. The instructions for contributors are below and we look forward to your submissions through the new online system, which can be found here: http://www.editorialmanager.com/prj
Beginning July 2012, articles accepted for publication will appear online first at the Politics and Religion Cambridge website (http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=RAP). This early online access before print publication will expedite the best research in our field quickly from the author to the broader academic readership. We are also happy to report that Politics and Religion continues to be indexed with more online databases, having recently been picked up by International Political Science Abstracts. A complete list is available on the journal website.
We would also like to welcome a new editorial board that is a bit slimmer (21 versus 25) and contains quite a bit of new personnel — by design only seven of the previous board members continue on in service. We hope to initiate a regular rotation so more scholars can serve the journal in this important position. We are quite fortunate that Andrew Murphy was willing to take on another stint as Book Review Editor and look forward to the continued robust dialogue that section provides.
The articles in this issue offer various perspectives on a central question for the discipline: what is the role of religion in politics? Friesen and Wagner conclude that attitudes about the intersection of faith and politics may be best understood in the context of denominational guidance. With a similar respect for the role of denominational leadership, but employing classic social movement theory, Gordon and Gillespie examine the Mormons' strategy against the ERA as well as the more contemporary issue of same-sex marriage. Denominational guidance plays a role in Kopko's analysis of religious identity in the Mennonite Church and its effect on political participation. Sokhey and Mockabee evidence the role of church-based networks in exposing individuals to cross-cutting discourse and providing a unique source of information within a larger electoral environment. Taking a comparative approach, Gu and Bomhoff contrast the similarities and differences of Catholic and Muslim publics regarding support for democracy and toleration of civil values. Two articles focus on the role of the Catholic Church particularly, with the first by Gin considering the importance of coalition-building incentives and the second, by Chu, calling on political scientists to engage more thoughtfully with theological statements that could in turn be seen as a commitment on behalf of the Catholic Church towards non-violent conflict resolution. Finally, using a different lens, Hays and, separately, Liebell deliberate on aspects of judicial activism with the former looking at the process of reconstructing policies on school prayer in the Reagan years and the latter detailing judicial interventions over intelligent design and challenging liberals to articulate a more positive frame about the importance of science in the construction of liberal citizenship. We hope you enjoy this array of contributions and consider submitting your own research to Politics and Religion.
As new editors, we are excited about these new developments and look forward to the continued growth and success of Politics and Religion.
Sincerely,
