Obama the Anitchrist?: Take courage against fundamentalism

Oh, man have we got a problem.

According to a recent Public Policy Polling survey  of New Jersey voters,  nearly 1/3 of Republican voters either think Barack Obama is the Antichrist, or "Aren't sure".  That's right. The Antichrist. Let's pass right over Jimmy Carter's concern that there is strong dislike of President Obama because he is black. Apparently, a major voting bloc thinks he's Christ's evil twin.

Now, granted, had I been polled during the Bush administration and asked if Dick Cheney were the Antichrist, I'm not sure what I would have answered. I have no opinion on the Antichrist as anything other than a fictional entity, but I still would have been tempted to say yes, just for giggles. So maybe it's fair to assume that the numbers the are a bit inflated. But by how much?  And what would the numbers be like in red states with higher percentages of fundamentalist Christians among them? I think this is not something to be overlooked.  I think it should be a major concern to Republicans who are interested in the long-term strength of their party, and in serious-minded governance. Apparently, at least 1/3 of its base are educated to distrust fact as a matter of faith.

This is not a question of values or economics.  This is not believing that we should vote out President Obama because he will socialize medicine, or expand abortion rights. This is voting based on a concern that the United States is president over by a functionary of Satan.  And it's a big enough voting block that few in the Republican party seem willing to challenge it.

Already, media pundits are downplaying this problem by comparing apples with oranges - comparing, for example, this 1/3 to the 1/3 of Democrats who suspect George Bush may have had prior knowledge of a 9/11 attack. Yes, 33% of Democrats suspect that Bush had prior knowledge. But that suspicion is at least plausible - it's probably not true, but it is grounded in a stream of related evidence: that intelligence new an attack of some kind was imminent, it happened to be politically expedient, that President Bush's administration openly engaged in lying and distorting the truth about the response to the attack, etc. One can understand how a substantial chunk of anti-Bush voters would draw such a conclusion by using fact and reason, even if the facts are debatable.

The fundamentalist belief that the President is an evil spirit, by contrast, is dangerous to the entire political process.

Courageous Republicans should speak out against it and call it what it is.  They can't afford to ignore it. The seeds are being sown for a culture war in the United States similar in many ways to the culture war being fought among Muslims.  And if you think this is a bit extreme, ask the families of the doctors and abortion workers and museum guards who have been shot and blown up in recent years by fundamentalist Christians who believe Jesus has sanctioned their terrorism. What do they think?