Prescient, thoughtful article yesterday in the Times.
Firstly, it’s a well-done summary of the historical factors contributing to the current involvement of Evangelical Christianity in American politics. More importantly, it doesn’t treat Evangelical apocalypse-harbingers as unspun crazies, but as a motivated, sincere group of people who may be right or wrong about what they believe (cf. Daniel Dennett, Breaking the Spell). Regardless of how many affronts to human dignity you accuse them of, they’re not bothered, as they actually believe their actions to be just.
With the proliferation of Salon, Slate, and Thinkprogress posts taking hyperbolic pot shots at the religious right, it makes me giddy to see someone finally taking these movements seriously. Because if nothing else (and there’s many other “elses,”) failure to do so enforces their persecution complex and lends credence to their belief that their anti-gay-rights, anti-women’s-rights, science-sodomizing initiatives are the collective David to the vague (yet somehow controlling and omnipotent) choo-choo train Goliath of progressive values.