I think those outside of the US underestimate the power that the right wing fundamentalists have exercised over the past several decades.

Religion in the UK is a minority activity and it is mostly kept away from the political parties. In the US there has been a trend in the other direction. Now, for the first time, we have overtly religious figures running for high office and basing their campaigns on their religiosity. Not only have several candidates gone out of their way to proclaim their disbelief in Darwinism, but they have also stated that their duty, when elected, is to promote "God's" agenda, not to uphold the constitution.

The US was founded by those trying to escape religious dogmatism and the reason freedom of religion was made explicit in the first amendment was to protect religious minorities from the power of a dominant religious-political alliance.

When the threat seems so large one has to make room for some polemicists to sound the alarm. If they tend to go too far for some people's liking, that's the price one has to pay when the other side has dominated the discourse for so long.

When religion gets back out of the Whitehouse and government the critics will tone down their rhetoric. You don't whisper "fire" in a burning building, you shout it.

Policies not Politics
---- Daily Landscape