When the media punditry and political scholars talk about a "Culture War," it is often an abstraction, a term used to describe the eternal struggle between those who desire relatively secular governance versus those who want allowance of Biblical principle factored into public legislation.
The Culture War, like the Cold War has been seen as a war fought with ideas rather than guns, and one that is constrained by the overall consensus that the American system of government, with its separation of powers, ultimately serves as the great mediator between the two parties.
Unlike the Cold War, however, it appears that the Culture War may soon be turning hot, as a small, but growing group of Religious Right activists seeks to eviscerate a government that has constrained its wildest dreams for so long.
As reported in Salon by Michelle Goldberg, The Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration, a group that includes such notable figures as Jerry Falwell and embattled House Majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), believes that the Constitutional provision calling for separation of church and is "a lie introduced by Satan and fostered by the courts."
Consequently, the group seeks to replace the current American governmental system with one that devolves most functions of government to local levels and is predicated on Biblical law as the key arbiter of all social matters.
Such a system would make criminals out of everyone from gays to doctors who perform abortions to women guilty of "unchastity before marriage." All of these crimes would, of course, be subject to the death penalty.
The group's first target for destruction is the federal judiciary, which, in their words, relies on "Marxist, Leninist, [and] Satanic principals" in its decision-making.
The two recent Supreme Court decisions that have so galvanized the group have been Lawrence v. Texas, which decriminalized sodomy, and the Court's refusal to get involved in the Terri Schiavo case. Never mind that in the case of Lawrence, it was Justice Kennedy, a conservative Reagan-appointee, who delivered the majority opinion. According to the group, no judge can be trusted.
But how does one go about destroying a branch of government that is often held in rather high regard by most of the American public, if polls are to be believed?
JCCCR constitutional lawyer Edwin Vieira believes the answer can be found in the philosophy of that great paragon of Christian virtue, Josef Stalin: We're talking about the greatest political figure of the 20th century ... He had a slogan, and it worked very well for him whenever he ran into difficulty. 'No man, no problem.'"
Actually, the accurate quote of Stalin's philosophy is: "Death solves all problems: no man, no problem."
Does this mean the JCCCR believes judges ought to be assassinated? One can't be sure, but if the closing prayer of their conference that called for God to deliver "such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus," means anything, judges ought to start wearing Kevlar to work.
It would be easy for those of us, religious or otherwise, who believe in the ingenuity of the American system to dismiss this group as just run-of-the-mill lunatics, yet that is simply impossible.
Any group that contains prominent members of Congress as well as people from the preeminent Right-wing think tanks around the country must have a lot of pull in society, particularly when the President shares similar religious inclinations.
How do we combat such extremism?
By forming our own coalition of secularists, progressive religious movements and civil libertarians, all of who value religious pluralism and separation of church and state within government operations.
Together, we can educate the public on the true nature of the Religious Right, and reassert control over our nation. Otherwise, in the war of the secular and fanatics, we, and the country, will come out losers.