Uniformed Paramilitaries for Christ in Fort Lauderdale Click HERE to Bring Up Full Post

Check out the new Christian militarism, replete with military garb.

One thinks of the morals police in Saudi Arabia: the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Or the quote attributed to Sinclair Lewis:

When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.

I think we need a little more Ethan Allen, Samuel Adams, Ben Franklin and Tom Paine, and a whole lot less of these freaks.

To what extent the Republican Party has gone from being the party of a government-skeptic Goldwater and to being the Christian Nationalist Party, I cannot say, though the overtones of the bloodbath at the recent Anne Arundel County Republican Central Committee as reported by Greg Kline, Brian Griffiths and David Kyle left me chilled. I found of particular interest the comments of Maryland Chesapeake Blog, whose unstated assumption from the MORE MODERATE side of their recent unfortunate intra-party food fight seemed to be that specifically Christian teachings were or should have been the governing principles of how the Republican Party should operate there. Implicit therein: non-Christians, meaning non-evangelical Christians, practically - were not part of the community, or at least were not of consequence. Mind you, I don't know that a Christian Nationalist Party is per se a bad thing. I would rather that those who support an integration of Christian ecclesiology and doctrine into the forceful apparatus of the state make their case openly and without apology, same way that I fight for liberal, secular values and governance.

UPDATE: David Kyle suggests in comments that he did not blog very well but it is I who failed to add the appropriate tone of snark and humor to the prior paragraph that I sought. Long week, been working too hard. Please note the Schadenfreude and humor tags in reference to the parliamentary food fight in Annapolis. While I do believe that the Republican Party is slouching towards theocratic tendencies, Annapolis' recent kerfuffle is not evidence of same. Frankly, was just trying to find the sense of humor that I seem to have difficulties finding of late. Harrumph and good natured ribbing to all.