There's no denying that Christianity is a powerful influence on conservative politics in the US. What's particularly interesting to me is that the Religious Right branch of the Republican Party seems to be becoming increasingly at odds with the Small Government branch. Almost by definition, a moralist view of government believes in a an active, for lack of a better word, crusading government that actively looks to better society. Which of course is the antithesis to what libertarians like myself believe in. It will be interesting to see if the Republicans can hold these two groups together as Bush continues to veer more dramatically towards the moralist, crusading vision of government, and away from traditional conservative principles of fiscal discipline and individual liberty.
