Christian Jihad?

Reading NYTimes Mag (8.19.07) article on politics and religion – how the West has moved in very different directions than Middle East – we’ve separated religion and politics; but other parts of the world see them as one and the same, as the West once did in Middle Ages. Yet even in the west, after WW 1, “messianism” arose with a vengeance in Nazism and Communism. Even in America, there are Christian fundamentalists – Dominionists, Reconstructionists, Theo-cons – who dream of transforming our democracy into a theocracy and destroying the wall between church and state. They’re busy rewriting American history, seeking control of local school boards, the military and government, trumpeting fear at every turn, preaching well-regulated conformity to their own and ill-will to everyone who disagrees. As far as I’m concerned, they represent a real and present danger to the well-being of the Republic – not some enemy across the sea, not even some terrorist group flying a plane into a building, but Christian fundamentalists who despise diversity, hate freedom of choice and love their own brand of jihad against an unbelieving world.