As the 2004 election draws nearer and George W. Bush's poll numbers grow shakier, White House operatives are devoting themselves to coddling the religious right. Given that 40 percent of Bush's 2000 vote came from white evangelicals, if you add Orthodox Jews and conservative Catholics you've got a formidable religious bloc. These people demand legislative action, e.g., bans on late-term abortion and gay marriage. With the White House strongly behind their agenda and legislators fearful of retaliation if they don't climb aboard, the wall between church and state is taking a beating.

That is not exactly news, but it explains recent seemingly disparate events. Take the Boykin affair. When Lieut. Gen. William Boykin, deputy under secretary of defense for intelligence, referred to the United States as a "Christian nation" engaged in a "spiritual battle" with Satan and preached that the Christian god was "bigger than" the Muslim god, which is "an idol," it would appear his remarks clashed with Administration policy, as expressed in Bush's statements that America's war on terror "is not a war on Islam" or "a clash of civilizations." Accordingly, the general should have been fired forthwith. Instead the President said merely, "He doesn't reflect my point of view," and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld sidestepped, praising his "outstanding record."

The Christian Coalition blasted the "liberal mob" attacking an "American hero." Moral: Firing Boykin would make him a Christian martyr. And in your heart you can't be too anti-Islam.

Subscriber Login

User Name

Password

Subscribe Now!

The only way to read this article and the full contents of each week's issue of The Nation online is by subscribing to the magazine. Subscribe now and read this article -- and every article published since for the past five years -- right now.

There's no obligation -- try The Nation for four weeks free.

• Get The Nation at home (and online!) for 75 cents a week!
• If you like this article, consider making a donation to The Nation.