POLITICS - The March to U.S. Theocracy

Want to read something really, really scary? Something out of a Stephen King novel?

See "Religion becomes U.S. public policy" opinion By Marie Cocco, WASHINGTON POST WRITERS GROUP.

This is the chilling prospect laid out by Kevin Phillips, the one-time Republican operative and political historian who has made it his business of late to dissect the contemporary Republican Party’s firm hold on power. The most unnerving message of his latest book, “American Theocracy,” is that we who believe in facts or evidence, or that there must be some rational basis for public policy, are mistaken in our trust that objective truth or shared civic principal matters to those who gain power through the enthusiasm of religious zealots.

“Values are what society holds; what churches hold is theology and belief,” Phillips writes. Seen through this lens, the spectacle of Congress’ being called into session last Palm Sunday to pass legislation for Schiavo’s parents begins, oddly, to make sense.

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When the fervently religious call the political shots, as they often do in the current Republican Party, religion becomes public policy.

Be forewarned!

More from another view.....

"The left will continue to accuse us of trying to 'Christianize America.' Because it can't debate us on the issues, it seeks to demonize us. But we are the inheritors of the faith tradition that is part of the fabric of America. We seek to return America to the Godly values espoused by leaders like Washington, Adams, Lincoln and Reagan. And we have just as much right to be actively involved in the political process as other citizens."

-- Pastor Rick Scarborough

"A specter is haunting America, and it is not socialism and certainly not communism. It is the specter of Americans kneeling in submission to a particular interpretation of a religion that has become an ideology, an all-encompassing way of life. It is the specter of our nation ruled by the extreme Christian right, who would make the United States a 'Christian nation' where their version of God's law supersedes all human law -- including the Constitution."

-- Rabbi James Rudin, "The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right's Plans for the Rest of Us" (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006)

"War on Christians?" by Bill Berkowitz