You Thought They Couldn't Get Any Loonier, But ...

Do not expect a split between the allegedly not-religious-at-all Tea Party & the Religious Right. Paranoia just draws them closer together.

But this convergence between the two groups goes well beyond coalition politics and reflects a radicalization of conservative evangelical elites that is just as striking as the rise of the Tea Party itself. Indeed, the worldview of many Christian Right leaders has evolved into an understanding of government (at least under secularist management) as a satanic presence that seeks to displace God and the churches through social programs, to practice infanticide and euthanasia, to destroy parental control of children, to reward vice and punish virtue, and to thwart America’s divinely appointed destiny as a redeemer nation fighting for Christ against the world’s many infidels.

This is followed by a laundry list of lunacy from James Robison, & a conclusion.

After examining the beliefs of the contemporary Christian Right, candidates like Bachmann and Perry seem less like pols cleverly straddling factions and more like leaders of a single constituency. In particular, the fiery “constitutional conservatism” espoused by many of them reflects a belief in a God-given Founders’ design that equally demands limited government, absolute property rights, a ban on abortion (including some forms of contraception) and same-sex relationships, the right to a Christian education, a stern attitude towards economic “losers,” and hostility to foreign countries other than Israel.

When the Christian Right leaders convened by James Robison come together in Houston on August 6 at Rick Perry’s invitation to hold a “national call to prayer for a nation in crisis,” it may or may not be connected to a presidential run by its host. But it will illustrate that the Christian Right is hardly dead or asleep, and is no longer by any means at odds with the fiscal and economic radicalism gripping the rest of the conservative movement.

A recap of some of the more colorful Xians who'll be praying 6 August.Masochists/aficionados/connoisseurs of the genre will find longer versions here.