God crashes the tea party

Nowhere is this tension more visible today than in the struggle for the political soul of the Tea Party.  For, as the coalition on the religious right that dominated American conservatism since the 1980's has begun to fall apart, some of the same Christian fundamentalist elements are seeking to absorb - some would say take over - the originally non-sectarian Tea Party.

The Tea Party emerged from a laudably grassroots base: libertarians, fervent Constitutionalists, and ordinary people alarmed at the suppression of liberties, whether by George W Bush or Barack Obama. Libertarians, of course, tend to understand church-state separation: if you don't want government intruding in your life, you definitely don't want it telling you how to worship.