About the Author

A lifelong Democrat, David Carlin was a Rhode Island state senator from 1981 to 1992. In 1992 he was his district's Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. For over twenty years he has been a professor of philosophy and sociology at the Community College of Rhode Island. He has published more than a hundred articles on social, political, and religious topics, writing for the New York Times , America, First Things, and other journals, secular and religious. Carlin and his wife, Maureen, live in Newport, Rhode Island.