"In light of the fact that for the first century of our existence, even voting was public -- you either did it raising your hand or by voice, or later, you had a ballot that was very visibly red or blue so that people knew which party you were voting for -- the fact is that running a democracy takes a certain amount of civic courage. And the First Amendment does not protect you from criticism or even nasty phone calls when you exercise your political rights to legislate, or to take part in the legislative process,"- Justice Antonin Scalia (pdf).
I find the Christianist right's desire to both enter the public square and remain invisible in it to be, well, a function of contemptible cowardice.