What you need to understand," a Robertson supporter told me, "is that Pat opposed the war in Iraq from the start." I responded that according to the Lancet, some 600,000 Iraqis have died since the war began. If Robertson had publicly opposed the war, I told them, his influential voice might have spared those lives. "But," one of them answered back, "Pat is a Republican who would not openly oppose the president."

And there, I submit, is why the religious right is in trouble. Since the emergence of a politically active version of conservative Protestantism in the 1980s, it has never been clear whether America's shift to the right took place because deeply religious people became political or because deeply conservative people became religious. I learned at Regent what I have long suspected: For some of the most visible leaders in the religious right, politics trumps religion every time.

I think Wolfe prematurely concludes that the role of evangelicals in politics has peaked.  

Many evangelicals may sit out this election, but they'll be back in 2008.  

There are waves of activists with a taste for power who have learned to organize politically and they are determined to force this nation to accept their idea of Christian values.

Here's a quote that appeared in a report at Ethics Daily  from a recent conference at a Southern Baptist Church in Nashville:

"Our goal is to motivate every single believer, everyone who names the name of Jesus, to be involved in the political process," said Jerry Sutton, pastor of Two Rivers Baptist Church, site of Monday night's rally.

"We have every intention of out-praying, out-thinking, out-working, out-serving and out-loving our opponents," Sutton said. "  And we will by the grace of God make this a Christian nation."

Jerry Sutton was one of the first people I met when I went to Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth.  We graded each other's daily quizzes in introductory Greek classes.  At that time Sutton was preparing to become a humble preacher.  There was no sign then that he was ambitious to become a political boss.  Today, he aspires to become President of the SBC and lead Southern Baptists to "make" America a Christian nation --not by the "foolishness of preaching" but by the force of law and politics.

There are literally thousands more preachers like Jerry Sutton in Southern Baptist churches across this country.  They network with each other and their parishoners on a daily basis.  They are not going to crawl in a hole and hide.  They are going to continue organizing and influencing politics.

I suspect (barring an October surprise like war with Iran or widespread voting fraud), that the House will turn Democratic in 2006, that moderate and progressive Christians will conclude that the threat of Christian Nationalism is over and will go back to their old routine, that the economy will tank and taxes will necessarily rise, and that the Religious Right will return with a vengeance in 2008.

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