The five key events . . .

. . . in the story of religion in American politics over the last 50 years, according to the philosopher William Galston (thanks to Rod Dreher):

1. The fall of the informal Protestant establishment. Started in 1960 with election of a Catholic president, followed shortly thereafter by the school prayer decision.

2. The expulsion of urban Catholics from the Democratic Party after McGovern.

3. The Roe v. Wade mobilization. By 1984, both party platforms on abortion had hardened.

4. The Carter disappointment. "I have a feeling that Evangelicals would not have moved so strongly toward the Republican Party as they did if Carter had not teased them and disappointed them. I think that sent the signal that if not even Jimmy Carter can be trusted to hold high the banner, what Democrat could?"

5. The Boomer schism. "I see Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as matter and antimatter, the two basic things that can happen to you if you went to Yale University." This is why things got very different in 1992. The traditional electorate looked at Clinton, the first Boomer, as different from his predecessors among the Democrats.