Forget about the particulars for the moment, and look at the big picture. Because this man has mixed politics and religion he has become a tool for the god-haters, and a propaganda bonanza for the antichristian leftists that have hijacked the leadership of the America-bashing democratic party. Frankly, George Bush has become the same thing, but for different reasons. There are lessons to be learned here; lessons that will serve us well, if we heed them, in the current global religious war.

It is not possible for beliefs not to influence public and political behavior. What a man believes about the world determines what actions he will take, and what decisions he will make. This goes without saying, it is so fundamentally true. Those who are screeching about evangelical hypocrisy do so because, among other reasons - like emotional and intellectual immaturity – they have rightfully concluded that those who set themselves up as religio-political leaders want to impose their view, morality, and way of life on others who don’t believe the same things.

This is just plain stupid, and carried to extreme (like Islamic Jihadists), can be the worst form of fascistic evil. Divisiveness in a society or culture will doom it to failure and collapse. A house divided cannot stand. This is not to say that evangelical Christians should compromise in any way their worldview, but it does mean that the Christian church has no business in American politics. The United States was founded as a place for freedom of religion. This has allowed Christianity to greatly influence the American culture until recently. I believe this trend has waned for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the perceived hypocrisy of Christian leaders. America is now a post-Christian, increasingly globalistic society. Any attempt to force secular society to live by Christian, rather than legal standards, is doomed to failure.

Does this mean that citizens should not exercise their political rights according to their beliefs? Absolutely not. Does that mean that citizens should not vote for those politicians who most accurately reflect their views under the law? Of course not. But it does mean that as soon as Christian conservatives couch those positions and viewpoints as moral absolutes, they are going beyond the bounds of freedom of religion, and entering into the realm of theocratic government. The rest of society will perceive this as a threat, and, carried to extremes, it will undermine the very foundation of this unique representative democracy.

Unity is essential if a society is to survive the coming turmoil, and that unity must be founded on something that all members of that society can agree upon, like objective law. That is why activist judges are so dangerous. That is why activist religionists are equally dangerous. We are a nation under God, certainly, but we are also a nation founded on freedom. When that freedom is threatened, we all need to respond in the common defense. We can’t do that if we are divided. We can’t do that if one side comes across as repressionist. We can’t do that if we don’t prevent differences from becoming divisiveness.

The United States must stand firm against any and all threats to the freedom that has been so hard-won over nearly two and a half centuries. The United States must therefore be united. If we’re not, we’re done for. We need leaders; politicians, judges, business people, and citizens who value unity over discord. Most of all, we need to be able to look at one another and identify ourselves as being essentially on the same side. If we can’t, or won’t, then this great experiment in democracy will go down in flames. We need to be able to accurately identify the enemy, and stop declaring war on each other.

We are in desperate need of a President who will stand by his principles while not coming across as arrogant or indifferent. We need an impassioned leader who is willing to do what is necessary to unite, rather than divide us. We need someone who will assure the citizens of this country that disagreement does not result in disenfranchisement. I’m not sure our current President can do that in the two years he has left in office. But I do know that if he can’t, we’ll be in sorry shape indeed.