Even if "moral values" ended up being, in the words of the New York Times columnist Frank Rich, a "red herring," an anomaly that had less to do with Bush's re-election than the Iraq war and the American public's general aversion to critical thinking, last winter's buzzphrase made us more sensitive to religious occurences in pop culture. It's an NBC miniseries; it's a 24/7 papal deathwatch; it's a Pulitzer Prize-winning play; it helps Ashton Kutcher accessorize.

Following natural law, where there are miniseries and celebrity wristwear, there is widespread sexual fallout. How does organized religion affect our sex lives — if at all? To what extent do we reconcile religious faith with sex that doesn't fit inside the Judeo-Christian model of marriage? Or is it the traditional idea of sin that makes sex hot? Do Scientologists have the answers? Is God dead? Is he Frank Rich? Are ethical sluts the new moral majority?

In this issue, writers ponder most of these questions, and reflect on their often-unorthodox personal experiences. — Michael Martin