The Tennessean published a package of stories on Oct. 24, 2010, related to mistrust of Muslims in the state. Shariah law plays a part in that concern and is an issue in a lawsuit to block construction of a mosque in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Read an Oct. 19, 2010, Council on Foreign Relations interview with John C. Green of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, who says that although voters are primarily concerned about jobs and the economy, they may also feel growing anxiety about Islam and the cultural and ethnic changes in the country.

Watch a 2007 Boston Globe video about Romney’s Mormonism.

Read an article from the spring 2011 issue of the scholarly journal Religion in the News about how religious practices predict political beliefs.

Read an Aug. 17, 2011, Washington Post blog post about how religion can be used to predict Tea Partiers.

Read an Aug. 22, 2011, Religion News Service story (posted by the Huffington Post) about a disconnect between current trends on religiosity in the U.S. and the injection of religion into politics.

Read an Oct. 21, 2011, column in The Wall Street Journal on Romney’s Mormonism and the 2012 election. It’s by Robert Putnam and David Campbell, co-authors of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us.

Read a Nov. 8, 2011, post on Time’s Swampland blog on the presidential preferences of different religious groups.

Read the Nov. 14, 2011, transcript of an Ethics and Public Policy Center discussion of Mormonism and politics.