(RNS) — In an often-tense election year, a number of the books RNS featured in 2024 dealt with politically charged faith topics. Some, such as Amanda Tyler’s and Matthew D. Taylor’s explorations of Christian nationalism and Joshua Leifer’s breakdown of American Judaism’s embrace of Zionism, called out actors and institutions the authors perceived as bending religion toward political ends. Then there were the books that looked to the past to better understand the present, examining the evolution of the sanctuary movement, introducing little-known Christian anti-racists and exposing how earlier politicians fostered enmity between poor white folks and their poor Black peers. Eliza Griswold’s profile of an evangelical church riven by discord post-2020, and Greg Epstein’s observations about how artificial intelligence has become a religion unto itself, offer lessons about how to avoid worshipping the wrong thing.  The more reflective offerings, including J.S. Park’s book on grief and Cole Arthur Riley’s “Black Liturgies,” offer space for whatever readers might be feeling at the end of an exhausting year — rage, despair, joy, hope. So whether you’re …