As Christianism Reaches Deeper Into The GOP

When you see Jamie Kirchick embracing John Hagee as a stalwart defender of Greater Israel and the coming Apocalypse, you get a sense where the Republican far-right is heading. Eric Cantor's recent speech was, however, even more chilling. Get a load of this:

"Reaching out to the Muslim world may help in creating an environment for peace in the Middle East, but we must insist as Americans that our policies be firmly grounded in the beliefs of the Judeo-Christian tradition upon which this country was founded."

Forget national interest; the point of politics is religious warfare. That's Cantor's point. Muslim-Americans are not "real Americans". Nor are atheists. And the foreign policy of a multicultural country with a First Amendment must be dictated by the doctrines of two religions (which differ profoundly on many first order religious questions). And then, in Arkansas, the home base for Cantor's "conservatism" we hear a Republican Senate candidate explain his worldview:

"When I joined the military I took an oath to defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic," Reynolds said. "I never thought it would be domestic, but in today's world I do believe we have enemies here. It's time for people to stand up. It's time for us to speak out." He added: "We need someone to stand up to Barack Obama and his policies. We must protect our culture, our Christian identity."

I'm still razzed by what's left of the right for arguing that the root of American conservatism's problems is the political abuse of faith. But every day, it seems to get worse.