ABSTRACT
Any author receiving an invitation to contribute an afterword to a scholarly work is likely to wonder why. Three possibilities suggest themselves. First, ageing academics like myself are only truly suited for bringing up the rear. Second, in a collection whose authors are mostly European or Canadian, someone from the US may serve as the exception legitimizing the rule. Third, because I have been more an exception than exceptional within the US because of a long-time interest in the sociology of irreligion and secularization, I may be a good legitimating bet, or at least an unlikely source of dyspeptic disagreement with which to end the volume. For whatever reason, I am delighted to join such provocative yet persuasive company. After all, there is much to be said for having the last word, and I intend to use the privilege literally.
