The November 1976 issue of Playboy appeared the day before the first presidential debate.

In the soft focus cover shot, Patty McGuire is unbuttoning her shirt. But for once it was the accompanying text that aroused most attention.

In bright yellow caps the headline read Jimmy Carter on politics, religion and sex.

In the interview, the Democratic candidate, a Sunday school teacher in his spare time, confessed

to ogling women who weren't his wife.

I've committed adultery in my heart many times, he said.

Carter's Republican opponents delighted at the bizarre confession.

I'm glad he's not teaching Sunday school to my group. and opponents delighted at the bizarre confession.

I'm glad he's not teaching Sunday school to my grandchildren, a stern letter to the St Petersburg Times read. Carter's poll numbers drooped, but he survived the debates and went on to win the election.

Patty McGuire married Jimmy Connors, the bad boy of American tennis, and after 67 good

years it was COVID that killed Playboy magazine.

The final issue came out in March.

In truth, it had never recovered the vigor of the Carter era.

But in nearly upending the 1976 election, Playboy wrote one of the more salacious chapters in the saga of American politics and religion.

This is checks and balance. I'm John Prado, the economist's US editor.

Each week we take one big theme shaping American politics and explore it in depth.

Today, how is the balance between religion and politics in America changing. America has been debating how to separate religion and government from the get-go.

While faithlessness is rising, defenders of religious rights now have a champion in the Supreme Court.

Recent ruling lifting COVID restrictions on

places of worship made that clear. The court's realignment may be Donald Trump's

most enduring legacy. How are the politics of church and stage shifting? In this

episode we'll speak to a leading Christian conservative commentator, find out why the

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