What does the religious right really want?

"I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands. One Savior, crucified, risen and coming again, with life and liberty for all who believe."

The leaders of this confederation want to see this pledge recited daily by the youth of America, but very few Americans appear to understand who they are and what their ultimate goal is. The public knows there is a movement, but don't seem to know it's size, power, or it's membership.

So many of them appear to be well known, easy to identify personalities, but others keep a lower profile. When you start to actually look, the working members of these groups seem to exist everywhere and they all are working to fundamentally change this land. They envision a nation where faith and public policy are joined in lockstep. One where the bible is flawless, and is the foundation of ALL law and principal. They work for various groups, under the leadership of people that include James Kennedy, Jerry Fawell, Richard Land, Robert Schuller, who we have heard of, but also the less well known Roy Moore, Dr. John Morris, down to the likes of Kevin McCoy, who's claim to fame is having an anti-bullying program closed, because he felt it was an effort to promote a homosexual agenda.

Their political water is joyfully carried by George and Jeb Bush, Tom DeLay, Bill Frist, Katherine Harris, Phill Kline and what feels like countless others, both elected and staffers. They now control school boards, State Houses, Congressional and Senate offices and have full access to the White House. These are people who know what they want, and are now bold enough to shout it out. "I'm a radical! I'm a real extremist. I don't want to impeach judges. I want to impale them!" announces the chief of staff of Oklahoma's GOP Senator Tom Coburn, outside the 'Confronting The Judicial War On Faith' conference in Washington.

What is their goal? Rev. Kennedy reminds us of their singular target.


"Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost,"

To do this, they promote the fiction that the US was established as a Christian nation, and that there is some systematic conspiracy to overthrow this. They put out a constant call to arms over any incident, real or imagined, that can be twisted to support their position. They have pumped millions of dollars into the political process, and some say pumped about four million new voters into the polls in 2004. The Christian far right has developed far more strength than their raw number would imply.

But, why?

What do they really want. Again we look to Rev. Kennedy for an answer.

"As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society."

This is the total control of almost EVERY aspect of our lives. Our Faith, our Education, our Fun, our Exercise; every aspect of our public life is the target of this collection of activists. We will attend a church approved school, watch church approved movies, attend church approved sports, shop at church approved stores, all aspects of our lives will be in their hands.

A few novelist have played with these themes, Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaids Tale', may be the most often mentioned. Robert Heinlein's lead character in 'Job, a Comedy of Justice', was a minor leader in just such a society. In both cases, the world's they presented were at best terrifying. The show us a depressing reality, where faith overrules truth, power trumps right.

Yet, the grass roots still think of this gathering of like minds in a kind and respectful way. Rev Mel White puts it this way. "Most people hear them talk about a 'Christian nation' and think, 'Well, that sounds like a good, moral thing, "What they don't know -- what even most conservative Christians who voted for Bush don't know -- is that 'Christian nation' means something else entirely to these Dominionist leaders."

The majority refuse to be bothered look inside and see the truth, preferring to see these 'Christians' as they see themselves. The end result of this lack of interest could be exactly what the far right wants, and the majority claim to have no interest in creating.

An American Christian Theocracy .