Self-fulfilling prophecies

We noted yesterday that many Americans were becoming concerned about the influence of the radical Christian Right and that two thirds opposed the "nuclear option". The Liberal Anti-war Avenger makes an interesting point:

The extremist religious right is on the path towards learning about "self-fulfilling prophecies." If they feel the sting of imaginary persecution from the secular world as Christians now, imagine the pain they'll feel once their lunatic behavior creates a genuine backlash against them.

Is this what they want? Do they care so little about the rights, wants and needs of their non-extremist neighbors and so much about having judges like Pickering on federal benches that they are willing to abandon the very Christian ideals they claim to seek to uphold in order to get their way? Lying, cheating and discriminating was not the way of Christ.

Although I'm not religious I can't say that I have been anti-religious until recently. We have talked about the fact that the Terri Schiavo case was a political miscalculation on the part of Frist, DeLay and the Republicans with 80 percent of Americans opposing federal intervention. This may have been the turning point for the radical lunatic fringe of the evangelical movement. While some on the left may have been apprehensive about the influence of the religious right in politics a majority are now worried about the influence of the most radical, the American Taliban. We may be indeed be seeing a self fulfilling prophecy in the works and Mr. Frist, Mr. DeLay and the Republicans may pay the price.