Forget gay marriage and abortion - how'd you like to live in a country where all religions are illegal except for Christianity, where it's illegal to have a statue of Buddha or to use certain swear words, and where attending church is mandatory? Sounds a lot like the Taliban to me.

And if that worked, within a decade they'd be deciding which brand of Christianity was banned too. Lynching, witch-hunting and inquisitions might predominate. The American Dark Ages with God, or their god at least.

I guess I'm going to be wrapped in the flag and burned at the stake.

I have to wonder - do these nutjobs really believe their own crap or do you think they are simply taking advantage of an easy angle to get them into office?

I clipped the video, if you want to check it out.

Does this man scare Americans as much as he does me?

I have to wonder - do these nutjobs really believe their own crap or do you think they are simply taking advantage of an easy angle to get them into office?

Being self-delusional is a large part of it. They might genuinely believe and see the power and money as just rewards, which feeds more delusion. So, on and on. It's a great business with loads of money and fawning ladies. Why not if you have the stomach for self-delusion?

This guy really does terrify me. All I can hope for is that he continues to fall behind in the primaries.

I live in the part of the country (the South) that spawned this guy. Believe me, he comes from an area where 99.9% of people believe exactly the same way he does. They believe it completely and passionately. I agree that it's a delusion, but it's more than a self-delusion. It's a mass delusion, which is much harder to fight.

I clipped a quote from Mike Gravel today which really nails the issue...

"I ... really exhort as public policy that we concentrate on keeping religion out of politics, and keeping a very, very strong separation between church and state. Otherwise you will take the oppressive nature of the state and marry it with the oppressive nature of religion, and that is the ultimate oppression of human beings."