Ben,

It's tempting to believe this narrative but if you're interested in a fuller history I would highly recommend reading the first half of Richard Hofstede's "Anti-Intellectualism in the American Mind."

He's tackling a different question than Christianity--he's basically writing a (somewhat self-serving) treatise of why academic-type intellectuals are so frequently targeted by the Right--but in trying to trace back the history of that question he winds up recapitulating the entire history of Christian revivalism in America. As he does it becomes really clear that a particular subset of the Christian faith in America has always been closely intertwined with conservatism. Falwell's moral majority is only the latest act.

I'm not saying that in a condemning tone, either. Understanding the history put a lot of my childhood in context and also bled some of the anger and frustration out of my experience with the branches of Christianity I grew up with, while still highlighting the importance of addressing it. You can sort of watch the corruption unfold as nationalism turns from a (somewhat) reasonable response to the politics of a nation, to an idol if its own, with plenty of political leaders crying "Lord, Lord" without having any sincerity, and plenty of political followers anxious to believe them.

J