Now, project the salvation narrative onto a society seen as wracked by tremendous problems, infused with evil and depravity, and fallen away from God's laws -- and therefore consdier what it could mean if only we had a Godly government. Add psychological and political authoritarianism to the mix, informed by some variant of dominion theology, and we have a theocratic political movement which promises ongoing challenges to constitutional democracy. Max connects the dots of how this works in Republican Gomorrah, and helps us to understand how exploitation of personal crises serves to propel this dynamic social and political movement.

But many of us nevertheless find it hard to understand how these folks, seemingly a world apart, many living with such flagrant hypocrisies can survive as a credible religious and political movement. One aspect of this is that there is a profound resilience; and contrary to stereotype, most members of these communities are not mindless sheep unquestioningly following authoritarian leaders. People have more common sense than many of us might like to think. For example, in the 90s's "Coach" Bill McCartney, founder of the Promise Keepers evangelical men's movement based his organization on profound martial fidelity and Christian family values. But when he was exposed (among other issues Max details in his book) as having some sexual secrets of his own, and treated his wife with such astounding callousness that she contemplated suicide, participation in Promise Keepers and its annual budget massively dropped off at the peak of its influence. And the televangelist scandals of the 80s were similarly disastrous for Jimmy Swaggart and Jim and Tammy Bakker (among others) but that did not prevent Pat Robertson emerging as as a major national figure following his run for the GOP nomination for president in 1988 -- and building the soon to be mighty Christian Coalition from the campaign list. People don't like to be fooled by hypocrites and charlatans. But they also do not give up on their values, their community and their own sense of integrity, just because of the failures of a Bill McCartney. Like everyone else, they see themselves as doing the best they can, even in -- no especially in the face of disappointment.

I mention these things because as much as we are often captured by the intensity of the political moment, movements ebb and flow across larger blocs of time. And the Religious Right, one of the most significant social and political movements in American history, is in a state of transition as the founding generation passes from the scene. Pat Robertson, James Dobson and Don Wildmon are in various stages of retirement. Jerry Falwell and D. James Kennedy are dead. But the institutions and organizations that they have built live on, albeit changed. And their legacies continue. The newly elected governor of Virginia Bob McDonnell is a graduate not of Harvard, Yale or the University of Virginia -- but of Pat Robertson's Regent University. In many ways he epitomizes the success and future of the movement. Similarly, it would have been just about unthinkable not so long ago, for characters like Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee to be taken seriously in national discourse.

But here we are.