The Religious Reich

Here's a scary quote I read in Liz Clarke's profile of Mike Huckabee in the Washington Post this morning:

"I didn't get into politics because I thought government had a better answer," [Huckabee] told a group of pastors on the eve of the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention. "I got into politics because I knew government didn't have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives." He concluded that speech with words he says he'd phrase differently today: "I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ."

I don't know which scares me more: that an American in 1998, with even a passing acquaintance with the First Amendment, could think that this is an appropriate agenda for an aspiring President, or that millions of people would vote for him based on this single criterion. And I realize he says he'd phrase it differently now, but I don't see how different phrasing would change the idea.

No! No! I'm One of You!

So Mitt Romney gave a speech yesterday defending his Mormonism and explaining how it wouldn't play a part in his decision-making. Of course it's bullshit, and of course he displayed what a moron he is (as opposed to what a Mormon he is). For a more thorough dissection of the speech than I'll give, read Nathan's post, which addresses the most egregious lapses.

In his attempt to counter Mike Huckabee's increase in popularity in Iowa, Romney has decided to throw everything into appealing to evangelical Christians so he can save his campaign. In doing so he's positioned himself against secularists, who seem to be supported by the text of the Constitution of the United States. But he knows this plays well to the pious, so he can ride this horse 'til it collapses, because nobody's there to call him on it.

A quote from Romney's speech comes close to addressing reality:

[R]eligious tolerance would be a shallow principle, indeed, if it were reserved only for faiths with which we agree.

In the interest of completeness, I'd restate it as:

Tolerance of other worldviews would be a shallow principle, indeed, if it were reserved only for religious faiths.