Hangover Ahead?

    He had, in fact, got everything from the church and Sunday School, except, perhaps, any longing whatever for decency and kindness and reason.
                                                                                  Sinclair Lewis, Elmer Gantry

    Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion ... 
                                                  From  The First Amendment to the United States Constitution

    People who behave foolishly are apt to be deemed fools. People who wield power foolishly are apt to be deemed dangerous fools.
                                                                                                  Anonymous


    Mixing politics and religion adulterates both and produces an unhealthy brew. More's the pity that foes of same-sex marriage are tippling on it.
     Republican politicians woo the religious right with talk of writing God into the Constitution. Mega-preachers rail against the Supreme Court, the president, even against citizens who voted for the president. State and local officials offer religious excuses for obstruction and foot-dragging.  That old-time religion has never had so many fans.
    I'm not among them. To my ear, the voice of the far Christian right has always been a little long on judging and a little short on loving. And in any case it is a factional voice. It does not typify Christian thought, much less American public attitude.  Yet some on that side would see their favorite doctrines written into civil law, to be enforced on all comers.
    History warns against thinking to evangelize by the sword. And common sense warns against thinking to dance with the devil and come away clean.  Except perhaps to unusually obtuse children, the principle of the thing is simple. If government were empowered to favor one version of faith over others, no one's faith would be safe.
    Yet between the preachers and the pols, a fond dalliance proceeds. On both sides, temptation has worked its powerful way.
    Without a coherent vision of public policy for the country, the Republican Party is doubly open to single-issue, hot-button politics. On the religious right, a worldly appetite for political power is at work.  When candidates go a-courtin' over there, they can find the welcome warm indeed. And over there can be found a politician's dream of cohesive voter blocs ripe for sloganeering. Thus we see religion used to decorate the hoary tactic of barren politicians: demonize a minority.
    The same-sex marriage issue will burn out eventually. It is at odds with settled law and public opinion. But the mutual exploitation of preachers and pols may linger for a while. The appetite for it on the religious right is plain to see. And the GOP's problem remains. The party has little to say to the American people, and leaders who say even that much badly. Thus Republican candidates will be tempted toward the expedient of whooping up emotional issues.
    They won't succeed in turning the country into a theocracy. They will succeed in debasing the language of our politics.