Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, by Michelle Goldberg was published in 2006 by W.W.Norton & Company, Inc. It is an alarming account of Christian nationalists infiltration into the US government.

A new megachurch (more than 2000 members) is opening its doors every other day. Its numbers increased from 10 such churches in 1970 to more than 880 at present. They are usually located on the sprawling edges of cities in new exurban developments almost totally lacking in parks and other public accommodations. These unadorned churches are boxy with acres of asphalt parking, like a Walmart.

Residents of these new exurbs do not know each other. Megachurches fill the spiritual and social void. They offer dinners, parties, family counseling, summer camp, gyms, sports leagues and weight-loss programs. In Texas, there is a McDonald's inside the church.

Walk in on a Sunday morning and you see suburbanites bouncing and swaying as strobe lights Strafe the air and bombastic anthems crescendo, the closest comparison is the dizzy ecstasy of a rock concert. The preacher usually tells everyone to greet their neighbors.

In many cases they are tightly organized right-wing political machines. Small group leaders report to church officials above them & so on up the hierarchy. The churches are themselves organized and network together, and literally get marching orders from Washington, DC Every month the Family Research Counsel hosts a conference of sympathetic pastors and tells the preachers which issues to bring to their flock's attention.

Ms Goldberg signed up for the e-mail for pastors. She got invitations to call a toll free phone number. The calls begin with prayer. Then the listener is briefed on a few issues and given instructions to pass on to their congregation. In April 2005, the typical conversation was about the filibuster of judicial nominees.   The message that's being sent is if you are a person of strong Christian faith...you'll have to  take action against the filibuster. A few days later, an anti-filibuster rally and simulcast called Justice Sunday, featured Sen. Frist. Pastors were reminded of an upcoming three day policy briefing. Over 400 pastors had already registered.

Christian Coalition founder, Pat Robertson was crucial in developing Christian nationalism. He is a media titan whose Christian Broadcasting Network is heard in 71 languages in almost every country in the world. In his 1991 book The New World Order, he tells of scheming shadowy Jewish bankers manipulating world events for their monetary gain. He castigated cosmopolitan, liberal, secular Jews  for their assault on Christianity  and compared liberals' persecution of Christians to Nazi campaigns. It's required reading in some classes at his Regent University.

Robertson also influenced the adoption of Dominionism: God tells Adam to assume dominion over the animate and inanimate world. When man fell, he forfeited that right; but the saved restored by baptism can claim it again.

The Christian nationalist movement has multiple power centers. If any leader falls, the movement remains undiminished. An example of this occurred after the book was published Haggard was exposed as homosexual. He represented 13 million members and consulted with the White House on a weekly basis before he was exposed.

The Divide: According to City University of New York Graduate Center's survey, the percentage of Christians has fallen from 86% in 1990 to 77% in 2001. The 4% of religions other than Christians remained the same. The largest growth was in those who subscribe to no religion, from 14.3 million at 8% in 1990 to 29.4 million at 14% in 2001. The top gainers are the non denominational Christians, Evangelical Christians and those who profess no religion. But the religious divide in the US is not between the faithless and faithful it's between those who want to maintain a secular, pluralistic society and those who want Christian nationalism.

George W has brought the movement to the government. His regime is saturated with Evangelical Christians. The BBC reported that nobody spends more time on his knees than George W. Bush. David Frum, Bush's former speech writer, states the first words he heard in the White House was Bush saying "missed you at Bible study." Frum is Jewish.

Bush told a conference of religious leaders $2 billion in grants had been given to faith-based groups in 2004. Much of that went to small religious organizations that put evangelism at the center of their work.

The Salvation Army has been receiving government money for years but could not use it to evangelize and could not discriminate on the basis of religion, sexual preference, etc. During the summer of 2001 while Bush was still trying to push faith-based legislation, the administration advised the Salvation Army they would support them if they discriminated against gays and non Christian employees. In turn the Salvation Army was to use its clout to promote faith-based  social service initiative. Employees were asked to name the church and pastor where they attended regularly. Religious freedom under Bush has come to mean the right to discriminate with federal money.

What to do? She states it will not be enough to get Bush out of the White House. The Christian nationalist movement is so organized and the corporate media is buying into this movement. They have developed a talent for crafting state laws to serve as wedge issues rallying their base and forcing liberals to defend seemingly extreme positions. A new media approach is needed and simple public education about Christian nationalism. MoveOn-style grassroots groups. MoveOn has 3? million members. The Campaign to Defend the Constitution intends to build a similar network.

She advises using some of the same tactics Christian nationalists do and getting involved in local politics. Like in Dover, Pennsylvania where the intelligent design case had already been heard in the court but the judge had not issued a ruling when all 8 intelligent design members were ousted in a local election. In December 2005 District Court Judge John Jones, a Bush appointee, wrote although Darwin's theory cannot render an explanation on every point, it is a well-established scientific proposition. Replacing it with an untestable alternative is not called for.