Creative Loafing – Armageddon for the Religious Right? — An excellent analysis of the religious-politco scene from the heart of darkness, Georgia.

And the GOP strategy for employing religion in the next election is already clear. Consider the martyrdom of Tom DeLay, whose holiness turned Congress into a brothel for big business lobbyists. The Rev. Rick Scarborough, an influential Texas Baptist preacher and founder of the pro-war, pro-GOP Patriot Pastors, declared in March that the deposed House majority leader “was a target for all those who despise the cause of Christ.”

Embedded in his statement is a kernel of the Republican game plan: Assert that the party is God’s holy tool, and depict Christianity as under attack. In other words, break with the Republican Party, and you’ll become the tool of the Antichrist or, even worse, the ACLU.

“I believe we’ve seen the birth of the first religious party in the United States,” says Kevin Phillips, a former strategist for Richard Nixon and author of the just-released American Theocracy. “It should scare every American who values his liberties.”

Will the political preachers who’ve helped to redefine the Republican Party continue to keep the grassroots army that has given them so much power marching in lockstep?

The writer here is the great John Sugg and if you you like his stuff then his article about Democrats being butt-kissing losers is even better (and shorter thank goodness).