Ask Peter and Ted and Dan and Jim and Tom:

What does it mean to have a President who is a Religious Fundamentalist?

"He's the most recklessly religious President we've seen. He's on a religious mission, and you can't divorce religion from militarism. He believes in fighting righteous war." Annie Laurie Gaylor, editor of "Freethought Today".

"Bush is playing to a base activist constituency. Many of these people believe that they're living in biblically inspired End Times." Frederick Clarkson, author of "Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy".

"Bush is very much into the apocalyptic and messianic thinking of militant Christian evangelicals. People with that kind of a worldview often take risks that are inappropriate and scary because they see it as carrying out God's will." Chip Berlet, senior analyst for Political Research Associates in Somerville, Mass.

"What I hear is a holy trinity of militarism, masculinism, and messianic zeal. It does follow the logic of apocalyptic thought, which has a religious base but is now secularized in the militaristic mode. Apocalyptic thought always has an element of instilling helplessness and promising victory in the face of that powerlessness. In this instance, Bush plays up the vulnerability we feel because of terrorism or Saddam Hussein and then accentuates the military as the assurance that our helplessness will be transformed. [This kind of thinking is] dangerous because it prepares a nation for war without thinking about the impact on civilians and on the U.S. soldiers." Lee Quinby, professor of American Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York.

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