GOD save us from religious proselytizers in the upcoming presidential election.

This is the first sentence in an op ed appearing in the Toledo Blade. Its author, Marilou Johanek, will no doubt be the butt of many stinging letters to the editor for her remarks, but she has come to expect that over her years as a journalist.

Both she and I worry about this upcoming election because we have paid attention to elections past and we know full well that both politicians and religious folks like to team up for the main event in the political arena. Already the GOP candidates have opened their doors to the religious right, the fundamentalists, the folks who live Leviticus and seemingly ignore the 'love thy neighbor' teachings of Jesus.

Ms. Johanek writes, "This direct intrusion of religion into politics and public life dangerously blurs the critically important line between church and state. It motivates some -but fortunately not all - of the faithful to vote their religion at the ballot box, often without regard for which candidate is most qualified to move the country forward."

The religious right seem to gloss over that part of the Constitution in the same way they omit the 'love they neighbor' command.

If only these zealous Christian fundamentalists knew how closely their thinking is aligned to the Wahhabists in the Muslim world, the same people who they loathe and fear. Do they also know how closely related they are to the Taliban and their strict Sharia laws? Probably not: ignorance is bliss.

Odd isn't it? Seemingly all of the world's fundamentalist families are kin. Harsh interpretations of a set of laws set down by some distant god with little or no room for compromise. More strange still is that each of these groups use violence to obtain their ends. Who doubts that the idiotic Bush War in Iraq is nothing less than his personal crusade, a battle that his alcohol-soaked brain believes was dictated by God?

Curiously deranged leaders pop up from time to time throughout the history of the world, zealots who grab a religious sword and, in the name of their god, bring god's justice to the infidel. Ours will have led his crusade for nearly all of his 8 years in office.

Thanks to the political christian zealots who masquerade as patriotic Americans, George Bush was able to fulfill his mandate from god. Now, they have their eyes on a successor who will take that blood-stained sword from Mr. Bush and continue the slaughter of the infidel, in the name of that same god. Whom will they choose?

The larger question looms: will the American electorate fall once again for this candidate? Will they believe the oh-so christian message he will speak? Will they be bamboozled into believing that this candidate alone represents their 'values?' I shutter to think of that possibility next November.