In 2008, Senator John McCain's campaign recognized that he needed to shore up his credentials with the Religious Right, which was skeptical about his views on critical social issues, his team went all out courting mega-church Pastor John Hagee. And when Hagee agreed to support McCain, it was a major coup. It didn't take long, however, for that coup to blow up in the Senator's face, as video surfaced of Hagee claiming that God had sent Adolph Hitler to hunt the Jews, chase them from Europe, and drive them to Palestine. McCain was forced to dump Hagee. Is Jeb Bush making the same type of McCain-like deal by taking on the unbridled conservatism of Jordan Sekulow?

Unless you're Mike Huckabee or Rick Santorum and you don't need a liaison to the Religious Right because you are your own liaison, Republican Party presidential candidates need someone to hook them up. George H.W. Bush had Doug Wead, George W. Bush had Tim Goeglein, and now Jeb Bush's Right to RISE PAC has landed Jordan Sekulow, as a senior adviser. Say goodbye to compassionate conservatism and hello to a hardcore anti-gay, anti-abortion culture warrior.

Every now and then, while scanning the day's news, I come across a headline that's hard to believe.

Like this one: "California lawyer proposes ballot measure to execute gays."

Someone's idea of a joke, perhaps? Well, it's not funny.

Many leaders of the Christian Right, from megachurch pastors like Rick Warren to the top prelates in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, have repeatedly threatened civil disobedience (and worse) over marriage equality.  If they follow through on their claims, a summer of "martyrdom" may be at hand if the Supreme Court rules in favor of same-sex marriage this term.

The prison industrial complex ought to be thrilled by the prospect of the mass incarceration of Christian Right leaders willing to be martyred for their faith. Prison construction will be booming when the tyrannical Obama regime throws all those opponents of same-sex marriage in the hoosegow.

This is, of course, parody.  But it is also the logical conclusion of the rhetoric and the beliefs of many on the Christian Right.

It is easy to mock those who talk big but don't deliver. But it is harder to accept the idea that archaic notions of "Christendom" animate the thinking of present day religious and political leaders. But just because it is harder to accept does not make it any less true.

Last week an article began circulating on social media claiming that 57 percent of Republicans in a recent poll said they believe Christianity should be the country's official religion.

I didn't want to believe this at first. I figured it must be an internet poll, or one that relied on a confusing question.

We missed Evolution Weekend, which was held February 13-15 this year.  

This worthwhile effort, which began the same year as Talk to Action, seeks to promote "serious discussion and reflection on the relationship between religion and science. An ongoing goal has been to elevate the quality of the discussion on this critical topic, and to show that religion and science are not adversaries. Rather, they look at the natural world from quite different perspectives and ask, and answer, different questions."  But even as many religious and scientific leaders see religion and science exactly this way, many of the cultural and political conflicts that involve the Christian Right, depend on amping up exactly this larger conflict.

If Harry Emerson Fosdick were to give his famous 1922 sermon "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?" today, the style might be different, but the content might be surprisingly similar. It was given at a time when the clash of a science-driven modernism and religion was perhaps at its height. Some of those kinds of battles continue today on everything from matters of creationism to climate science.

Much has changed and much has not changed since 1922, as a reading of Fosdick's historic sermon will show. How and why that is, is worth considering.   Excerpts below:

It is never too late to remember.

Here is a reposting of a column I did following the death of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.  (I wrote a bit about it here, but it turned out I had more to say. And I probably still do.)

This is about Cuomo's historic speech at Notre Dame in which he directly and courageously challenged the Bishops of his time. Great stuff here. It is right up there with John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign speech on how to be true to both one's faith and separation of church and state.  The big issues don't change all that much. Just the people and the details.

"We assemble here that we, too, may exalt the free school that embodies the American principles of universal enlightenment and equality; the most characteristic product of our four centuries of American life....One institution more than any other has wrought out the achievements of the past, and is today the most trusted for the future.  Our fathers in their wisdom knew that the foundations of liberty, fraternity and equality must be universal education.  The free school, therefore, was conceived as the cornerstone of the Republic.  Washington and Jefferson recognized that the education of citizens is not the prerogative of church or of other private interests; that while religious training belongs to the church, and while technical and higher culture may be given by private institutions-the training of citizens in the common knowledge and the common duties of citizenship belongs irrevocably to the state."  Francis Bellamy.

Bill Donohue is at it again. The Catholic League president went apoplectic over President Obama’s seemingly innocuous comments at the February 5th National Prayer Breakfast. Besides being upset with his remarks about the Crusades, Donohue went on another rant about the Inquisition: incredibly claiming, “the Catholic Church had almost nothing to do with it.” Since we’ve been down this road with Bill Donohue before, it seemed like a good time to republish this post from 2007. Some things never change. -- Frank Cocozzelli

"I just got back from the Auto de fe! Auto de fe? What's an auto de fe? It's what you oughtn't to do but you do anyway."

--"What a Day for an Auto de Fe, as sung by Mel Brooks in the Role of Torquemada, in the film, "History of the World, Part 1"

For those of us who write about the Catholic Right, the Catholic League's ever-bombastic Bill Donohue is the gift that keeps on giving, almost to the point of self-parody. But Bill, beware! Those who seek to justify one inquisition may themselves have to do their own auto de fe, albeit one that is both secular and far more humane in nature.

I am very pleased to report that John Dorhauer, who joined us early on at Talk to Action has been recommended by a national search committee to be the next General Minister and President of the million member United Church of Christ (UCC).  Dorhauer's candidacy must be confirmed first by the UCC Board of Directors by a two-thirds vote at its upcoming meeting March 19, then by 60 percent of the the delegates of the 30th General Synod, meeting in Cleveland June 26-30.

John contributed 71 front page posts over two years about efforts by rightwing groups to sew discord and division in his denomination. He also reported on how he and his colleagues sought to address the ongoing problem. His blogging became the basis of an essay in The Public Eye and for the influential book Steeplejacking: How the Christian Right is Hijacking Mainstream Religion, which was published in 2007.  

I contributed an introduction to Steeplejacking, which is reprinted below.  

Thomas Jefferson wanted to be remembered for three things, which he had carved on his gravestone:

Here was buried
Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of American Independence
of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom
& Father of the University of Virginia

As it turned out, other than the Declaration, history has mostly focused on other aspects of Jefferson's life and career.  But this year, a number of us sought to breath fresh life into our remembrance of one of Jefferson's foundational contributions to the best of our aspirations as constitutional democracy:  religious freedom.

I recently wrote a column at LGBTQ Nation summarizing what happened when we seized the moribund Religious Freedom Day, and stood with Jefferson and his ally James Madison in the bright light of history.

Judicial Tyranny, compiled by Mark Sutherland, is a book that appears to represent what Religious Right types proclaim is the final word on the courts.  The book was handed out recently at the Houston meeting in response to the Mayor's soliciting of pastor's sermons.

The leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) made quite a splash last week when they announced they would support a law banning discrimination against LGBTQ people - with one condition.

Some analysts hailed the move. A few headlines writers even got a little carried away and asserted that the church had endorsed gay rights or forged a compromise that other conservative religious groups could use.