When I was a born-again Christian in the 70's, which, at that time, tended to merge the 60's anti-materialism, social justice, and peace movements into the teachings of Jesus, there was a parallel movement that was embracing a more radical viewpoint and was endorsing a sort of stealth campaign. The church I joined in Isla Vista (near UCSB, Santa Barbara, California) in 1975 was the product of a recent split from another church, which advocated a top-down authoritarian leadership, end-times survivalism, communal living, and infiltration of political bodies, from school boards on up, by Christian activists. The idea was that eventually the U.S. would have Christians in the highest levels of government, where they could begin to force change to what they believed was a corrupt and immoral society epitomized by the 1960's counterculture. The church I was in split from the more radical faction because the leadership believed in a separation between our spiritual lives and political institutions. So here we are, 30+ years later, and the hardcore, underground, off-the-radar work by these radical groups is coming to fruition. George Bush's appointment to the presidency seemed like the ultimate coup for the religious right, but he's not really a church-going zealot in the same way that Sarah Palin appears to be. I think the fact that she has little experience, thus little history, is actually a plus for the campaign. Just watching the convention, and the pundits on the right enthusiastically crowing about her character, charisma, charm, etc. is exactly how they would want this to play out. She appears to be an attractive and assertive blank slate, someone upon whom the sheep-like followers of the right can project whatever they want. She touches on all the political buzz-words of the political and religious right: God, guns, gays, taxes, anti-government, and anti-environmentalism. She exudes confidence and strength, but, like all religious followers in this radically patriarchal system, most especially women who are trained to be submissive to men, she can be easily manipulated and controlled.
The stakes are even higher than we imagined for this election. I think most people don't realize just how radical these religious groups really are, even though most of their churches operate in plain sight. Most Americans who call themselves Christians assume that these non-denominational evangelical groups are just another version of themselves. But some of these groups are wrapped up with militia movements and extreme end-times theology (which makes environmentalism and global climate change non-issues in their eyes).
In 1977 I spent a summer in Alaska, and was looking for a church to attend. I checked out a small non-denominational congregation in Fairbanks, where I was living, and had a bizarre experience as I found myself in the middle of a holy-roller service, with people crying, shouting, speaking in tongues, fainting, throwing themselves to the ground, etc. I eventually attended some evangelical-style Catholic masses and bible studies, which were radical by Catholic standards but nothing like the possessed little holy-roller church. Alaska--the frontier, steeped in oil-money (the oil pipeline had just been completed that spring), mecca for misfits and those looking to make a quick buck--seemed to be to be a perfect growing ground for this kind of extremism. It's no surprise to me that the the VP hand picked by the religious right come out of this environment.
