In Ohio and across the country, leaders of a political movement opposed to basic principles of American democracy seek to create a "Christian nation." While claiming up and down they do not want a theocracy, their acts, associations and the words used among themselves prove otherwise. They have spent the past thirty years developing an elaborate grassroots infrastructure while the rest of us moderate Ohioans and Americans have functioned in a "business as usual" manner.

Some call those who propel the movement "religious extremists", or "religious radicals", others call them the "Religious Right", "theocrats" or "Christian supremacists"  but whatever we call them, we must in the end agree on the threat they pose to our constitutional republic as we know it.  We know, for example, that they oppose the constitutional separation of church and state and support religiously-motivated government intervention into our private lives -- think Terri Schiavo -- while championing the diversion of taxpayer funds to advance their theocratic goals.

Back in 1989, when founding the Christian Coalition Pat Robertson said:

The mission of the Christian Coalition is simple. It is to mobilize Christians -- one precinct at a time, one community at a time -- until once again we are the head and not the tail, and at the top rather than the bottom of our political system.

In past decades, Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority and Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition were often ridiculed or dismissed as fringe.  Even as they said things that struck most of us as crazy or extreme, they grew in power and influence. Our failure has been in not recognizing how effective they have been at becoming a well-organized political movement, perhaps more powerful than any other to emerge in the United States in the past century, with sufficient power to move their agenda.

We at the Christian Coalition are raising an army who cares. We are training people to be effective -- to be elected to school boards, to city councils, to state legislatures, and to key positions in political parties.... By the end of this decade, if we work and give and organize and train, THE CHRISTIAN COALITION WILL BE THE MOST POWERFUL POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN AMERICA." -- Pat Robertson, in a fundraising letter, July 4, 1991

Pastor Rod Parsley's Reformation Ohio and Rev. Russell Johnson's Ohio Restoration Project for more than a year have both been recruiting "Patriot Pastors," and creating a model for a new generation of theocratic activists as the Falwell/Robertson generation readies for retirement. Ohio is the target of a pilot project that they will replicate around the country going into the next round of elections. I say: Not here. Not in my state. Not in my country.  

Time is of the essence to stop this frontal assault on our freedoms by this movement that seeks - as former GOP political strategist Kevin Phillips tells us - to implement an "American Theocracy."

Look, they are not primarily about religion - they are in fact a political movement - and their goal is first and foremost about political power, using the tools of electoral democracy. Here is an indication of the threat we face -- according to Rod Parsley:

A new heartbeat is palpitating out of Columbus, Ohio, and it's hitting the state and reverberating like shock waves across the nation. The only way to be consistently right is to get on the solid foundation that this nation was founded on, the B-I-B-L-E, that's the book for me.... Americans must be "Christocrats," becoming citizens of both their country and God's kingdom. And that is not a democracy; that is a theocracy... That means God is in control, and you are not.

While it's great that we as individual mainstream Christians, Jews and Muslims are beginning to speak out -- it's not enough. We moderate people of faith, regardless of faith, can no longer console ourselves with the reassurance that equal protection of the law extends to all without regard to religious beliefs. We must ourselves join together as a movement to match the political organizing efforts of those in Ohio and in America who masquerade as humble Christians but seek to build a dictatorship clothed in the trappings of religion.

Therefore, my colleagues and I are launching Operation Ohio, a wide-ranging public education campaign, to begin a more serious conversation about what needs to be done. We already have on board three nationally recognized authors and experts on this theocratic movement who are eager to come to Ohio to help us.

Frederick Clarkson: Co-founder, Talk to Action, journalist, and author, Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy. Mr. Clarkson has researched and reported on the movement for the past 25 years.

Michelle Goldberg: A senior writer for Salon.com.  While researching her recent book, Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism she spent time in Ohio.

Chris Hedges: Veteran New York Times war correspondent, lecturer, Princeton University; author, of several books, Mr. Hedges' writing about the religious right has been featured in Harpers Magazine. He has a book on the subject coming out next year.

We are also developing an advanced web site, to serve as a publishing and communication hub, and will use the best tools of the blogosphere along with more traditional marketing tactics to engage opinion leaders and the general public in this dialogue.

But we can't do it without support from other concerned citizens. Please help us launch a statewide conversation that will reverberate across the nation, this election year and beyond.

It is time for those of us who believe in constitutional democracy; who believe in religious freedom; who oppose theocracy -- to learn how to fight -- and to fight more effectively -- for the freedoms we say we hold dear.

We can receive funds via Pay Pal. Please visit We Unite Ohio, and hit the "Donation" button in the upper left side of the page.

You can also mail a check to the address below. Checks may be made payable to: WeUnite.org

I will return in a week or so to update you on our progress, and to let you know how else you can get involved.

WeUnite.org

PO Box 15064

Cincinnati, OH 45215

Thank you,

Paul