We’re pleased to announce that Austen Ivereigh has joined our roster of bloggers. A former deputy editor at The Tablet of London, Austen’s most recent article for America was about Tony Blair’s baptism into the Catholic Church. This week, Austen offers a British view of the U.S. race for president.

Enlightened religion is deficient in piety, feeling, and popular power, while Evangelicals are too prone to give reason the day off. Without each other as counterbalance, they fall into sterility on the one hand and fundamentalism on the other; yet blended, in American civil religion, and in a leader like Obama, they are a potent force for greatness.

Check back every week for more analysis and commentary from Austen’s side of the pond. Tim Reidy