Powerline's antidote actually poison

Powerline's Scott Johnson deliberately avoids the issue of whether or not the GOP is inappropriately mixing religion and politics. He calls liberal concern over whether or not the US is veering towards a theocracy alarmist. He refers us to an article by By Michael Barone of Real Clear Politics as "an antidote to the sky-is-falling rhetoric of the left about the role of religion in our politics." Here's Barone from the article:

But whether the United States is on its way to becoming a theocracy is actually a silly question. No religion is going to impose laws on an unwilling Congress or the people of this country. And we have long lived comfortably with a few trappings of religion in the public space, such as "In God We Trust" or "God save this honorable court."

The real question is whether strong religious belief is on the rise in America and the world.

How nice of him to supply this antidote to my pain. Unfortunately, it only made it worse. Note to Mr. Barone and Mr. Johson: Saying an argument is "silly" isn't an effective counter argument. Second Note: Where in the name of Teri Schiavo were you for the last couple of months? Didn't you witness the same congress I did passing laws nobody wanted for expressly religious purposes? Third Note: Religions won't impose laws on Congress. A radically religious Congress will impose laws on us.

Now, is the real question whether or not religious belief is on the rise in America and the World? I guess it is if one is concerned more with the spread of a particular religion than you are with good government. But if you are concerned with staying within the bounds of the American Experiment, the real question, the one raised by the left, is whether or not our elected leaders are putting their religion ahead of the constitution. When the majority leader, Senator Bill Frist salutes the Christian Flag then he is out of bounds. How about addressing that?

And how about this gem:

Fifty years ago, secular liberals were confident that education, urbanization and science would lead people to renounce religion. That seems to have happened, if you confine your gaze to Europe, Canada and American university faculty clubs.

This is so nonsensical it barely computes. Secular liberals (at least most of them) don't want to lead people to renounce religion any more than secular conservatives. We want to protect it. The only way to protect religion is to keep it out of the government. That's why we have - repeat after me - Freedom of Religion. Oh, I forgot. That's what you don't like.