For those of you who, like me, have been distressed over the Bush administration's disregard for our Constitution, there is a petition you can sign over at People for the American Way:

Dear President-elect Obama:

I urge you to uphold your commitments to restore constitutional rights and the rule of law. The Bush administration has run roughshod over Americans' civil liberties and its intelligence policies must be reversed, not continued.

The change you were elected to bring must include adherence to our core constitutional values: NO MORE torture... NO MORE domestic spying that violates Americans' rights... NO MORE excessive government secrecy... NO MORE gross violations of due process and habeas corpus.

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A quick survey of the PFAW site gives you a realistic view of the uphill battle we face in prying power from the hands of those who very much wanted to convert this country's democracy into a theocracy. They aren't easily yielding the control they gained over the last 28 years, but thank God! their numbers are decreasing. Some are praying for the Rapture, convinced that Obama is the Antichrist. Some are buying more and more guns, afraid of some nation-wide insurgency of African-Americans, and some, like the cult-like following of Sarah Palin, are convinced that they can make a God-inspired comeback in the 2012 election.

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The theme that runs through all their rhetoric is fear. How did these so-called Christians come to be so afraid? My Christian training included frequent admonitions of "Be not afraid." That simple advise is sprinkled throughout the Old and New Testaments. The “spirit of fear” mentioned in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (NKJV), is pushing people to do bizarre and cowardly deeds.

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Maybe we should pray that all these people who are running scared eventually come to understand that “spirit of fear” that has seized them does not come from God? Maybe it's the part about "love" and the "sound mind" that has them so disoriented. To quote an anonymous comment I found online:

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That there are people in 21st-century America who believe the Bible is literally true, who believe the Earth was created 6,000 years ago, and who believe that our lives today should be dictated by codes of conduct written by people who lived 2,000 years before modern medicine, electricity or equal rights -- and that these same Americans have influence in national affairs -- should infuriate anyone with a functioning mind. Fundamentalism is the antithesis of reason. Its adherents -- Christian, Muslim, Jewish or otherwise -- have been handed The Truth and cling to it, facts be damned.

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Hopefully, they will come to understand, as the Apostle Paul reminded the Romans, there is no authority except that which God has established. It forced the Democrats to come to terms with the faith and family values that so many of us on the "left" embrace, and to incorporate those values into our political platform. Thankfully, it's more inclusive and more appealing than what the Republican base had to offer.

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But it's not a morality that can be legislated. As a melting pot of such diverse races and religions, America will be a lot more stable when she gets the church and the state fully separated and each functions autonomously, according to our Constitution. If you believe this way, too, sign the petition, please.