Balmer fears that evangelical Christians, intoxicated by the power they wield within the Republican party, are promoting "the kind of homogeneous theocracy that the Puritans tried to establish in 17th-century Massachusetts" in order "to impose their vision of a moral order on all of society."

Its most common form, Dominionism, represents one of the most extreme forms of Fundamentalist Christianity thought. Its followers, called Dominionists, are attempting to peacefully convert the laws of United States so that they match those of the Hebrew Scriptures. They intend to achieve this by using the freedom of religion in the US to train a generation of children in private Christian religious schools. Later, their graduates will be charged with the responsibility of creating a new Bible-based political, religious and social order. One of the first tasks of this order will be to eliminate religious choice and freedom. Their eventual goal is to achieve the "Kingdom of God" in which much of the world is converted to Christianity.

A fundamentalist congregation in Ohio is spearheading a right-wing Christian drive to dominate politics in the Buckeye State. Fairfield Christian Church of Lancaster has an ambition so great that it caught the attention of The New York Times, which recently reported that the church and its allies are "mounting a campaign to win control of local government posts and Republican organizations, starting with the 2006 governor's race."

Digby brings our attention to the recent "Battle Cry" rally in Philadelphia, where a crowd of about 25,000 -- mostly teenagers and young adults -- pledged their fealty to a vision of a theocratic Christian nation. This pledge was obtained, mostly, by scaring the crap out of them, That was clear from this

We've been over this ground before and discovered that all you have to go on is skim milk. The infamous memos do not claim what you claim, the techniques documented are not torture, and all in all, it's just crap.

Is ANY religion less tolerant than Islam?

No, but my remedy starts with recognizing that there IS a threat that is much greater than the threat from the very small number of nutball Christian extremists.

The wack-o's that brought us 9-11 could care less about the average American.

They simply want to scare those in power.

that brings me to the question that has never been answered: Do we stop supporting Israel? They will,of course, be wiped off the face of the Erath without our support.

I say, let them. I'd be happy to give them the keys to every gated community in America. Leave the 99% of us who actually work for a living alone.

Nothing I have read states that "they" want to change our government or the way we live. All they want is to change the way we abuse 3rd world countries. If we need a Jonah to sacrifice, we have at least one Goldberg and one Hitchens. Toss 'em.

REPORTER: Mr. Bin Ladin, will the end of the United States' presence in Saudi Arabia, their withdrawal, will that end your call for jihad against the United States and against the US ? .....So, the driving-away jihad against the US does not stop with its withdrawal from the Arabian peninsula, but rather it must desist from aggressive intervention against Muslims in the whole world

As for what you asked regarding the American people, they are not exonerated from responsibility, because they chose this government and voted for it despite their knowledge

It often comes as a surprise to people to discover that bin Laden has never claimed that al-Qaeda can or would defeat the US, much less that al-Qaeda's goal was to destroy the "American way of life" or "Western civilization". He is not a man given to grandiose pronouncements and has limited his goal to incrementally increasing the pain inflicted on the US and its allies to force them to disengage from the Middle East to the greatest extent possible.

It LONG ago stopped being about "religion" and "Christianity" and is now 100% about power. They back the WH's views on torture b/c the WH gives them POWER.

It's a matter of degrees, but what I've seen lately suggests that certain Christian cultists could give the mad mullahs a run for their money.

See how he dances
See how he loops from side to side
See how he prances
The way his hooves just seem to glide
Hes just a one trick pony (thats all he is)

et al - Balmer has done the usual. He has described his opposition and attacked his description. Clever, but not unusal.

How can the Left condemn torture yet support the killing of unborn children? (And before anyone gets into a tizzy, I do support a woman's right to choose.)

And who might these be, Ernesto? Come, don't be shy. After all, you can hide behind "suggests."