Bob Smetana didn't grow up religious, but in a way that's part of why he reports about religion now.

My family started going to church when we were teenagers, and we hadn't gone to church before.

So it's an interesting new world.

And then you discover everyone else has a new world like that.

You know, you go to the Methodist or the Baptist or Muslims or Jews.

Everyone's world is different in religion.

You sound like an anthropologist.

I feel like it.

I'm just curious.

This is the best beat because you can talk about anything.

You know, politics, ethics, love, merit, sex. This is the best beat because you can talk about anything.

You know, politics, ethics, love, merits, sex, scandal, it's all here.

That mix of politics, scandal, ethics.

Bob says it can get supercharged in one denomination in particular, the Southern Baptist Convention. They are the largest evangelical group in the country. And as Bob puts it, Southern Baptists love three things,

Jesus, the Bible, and a good fight. They don't mind having their fights in public either.

Every year, they all get together for a meeting where megachurch pastors mingle with

small town preachers. And all of these folks try to hammer out the convention's rules.

It's part political convention. It's part family reunion because there are sermons and hymns. You start

out with sermons and hym singing and prayers. It's a political meeting with God.

And so with all the rules and all the prayers and all the passion.

I've heard it described as radically democratic.

It is radically democratic if you're a delegate.

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