The incessant drumbeat from the Christian right of hate speech targetting gays, for example, works to promote attitudes ( among those, at least,  who wouldn't watch "Brokeback Mountain" unless they were chained down and forced to do so ) that would tend towards support of Mr. Demar's positions, and so the open advocacy of such positions is actually unecessary until public opinion has solidified sufficiently to support legal       implementation. That may never happen because American cultural influences are pulling in both directions simultaneously - both pro and anti gay - but it would be politically foolish for prominent leaders such as Land to advocate positions that would be perceived  by major parts of the American electorate as hateful : especially when those positions can by advanced through less direct means.

It is probably impossible to measure, but I suspect that Reconstructionism functions as a weak but steady gravitational attractor that over time exerts a noticeable effect on the inertial mass of beliefs held by the more mainstream Christian right - and I can imagine leaders such as Land publicly denying reconstructionist tendencies while secretely spending feverish closeted bouts, by flashlight, thumbing over reconstructionist tracts and lusting towards days of theocratic splendor.

by Bruce Wilson on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 08:41:51 AM EST