A few months ago, Jonathan Hutson broke a series of stories at Talk to Action about a ruthless indoctrination video game masquerading as entertainment for children. Left Behind:  Eternal Forces, based on Tim LaHaye's best selling series of novels, is set in contemporary New York City where the citizens, "left behind" after all of the good Christians have been pulled up into heaven in an event called the rapture, are to be converted or killed by a roving Christian militia battling the United Nation peace keeping force, headed by the Anti-Christ.

The game, which is scheduled to come out next month - just in time for the Christmas shopping season, is the subject of an article by Michelle Goldberg, in the current issue of New York magazine. Goldberg advances the story with new information about the developers of the game: the key people are Jewish converts to conservative Christianity. (One clarified that he is not converted, but "completed." This is a notion of Messianic Jews, who consider themsevles "completed" because they have accepted Jesus the Messiah.)

The release, of what some now consider to be orientation software for the Christian militias of a coming religious war in America, coincidentally comes just as a film is coming out that documents the indoctrination of young evangelical children in a fierce ideology of religious warfare and what they call God's Army. Their pastor compares her efforts to Islamic Madrassa schools in Pakistan. The film is called Jesus Camp.

There are hundreds of thousands of books published in the United States every year. And there have to be at least as many reviews. Some are of some signficance, most not. But sometimes a book review is momentus. Like a book, or a article, or a poem or a song -- it can signal a shift in culture and politics, and in perhaps, historic outcomes. Since the days of Watergate, John W. Dean has become an important and independent voice for the integrity of the law and the constitution of the United States.  Thus it is an important event in the history of contending with the religious right, that Dean highly recommend's Michelle Goldberg's book, Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism.  

It is rare that a mere book review is an event, but I think this is an event. Dean adds gravitas to the matter and he clearly grasps and soberly presents the stakes in terms of his his sense of the  short and long term implications for the law and the courts.

In my more-or-less weekly round-ups of interesting and important posts about the religious right from the Greater Blogsophere, I have highlighted posts with which I generally agree in substance and tone.  

But sometimes, there are disagreements worth highlighting -- even among our friends.  And this week, a few have surfaced. What we disagree on, and how we go about disagreeing, can be at least as important as the things on which we agree and how we come to agree on them.

Journalist, author and blogger, Michelle Goldberg, will be featured on National Public Radio's Fresh Air, with Terry Gross, today, May 11th.

The occasion is the release of her important new book Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism which is a must-read this election year. The book, and her appearance on Fresh Air, (which airs on hundreds of public radio stations around the country), will figure into the dramatic change in the national conversation about the religious right in the U.S. that is now underway -- as people consider the implications of an active, theocratic political movement in America. The show is available in streaming audio over the internet as well.

Goldberg is making a number of personal appearances to read from or talk about her book over the next few weeks: in New York, Massachusetts, Washington, DC and California. Visit her web site for details.

Coincidentally around this time last year, (May 18th), I was interviewed on Fresh Air, along with Christian Right leader, Rev. Dr. D. James Kennedy, head of Coral Ridge Ministries.  Tapes, CDs and transcripts of that show are available, and will be for Michelle's  appearance as well.

By way of a sneak preview, here are a few excerpts from Kingdom Coming:

Having a difficult time making sense of the religious right? It is alien territory for many Americans in terms of the religious, political and public policy aspects. If we are going to be able to have conversations about the politics of the Christian right, it helps to have some foundational knowledge.

Yesterday, I did a round-up of some of the best and most important blog posts about the religious right from the past week. And as I did, it occurred to me that even as most people find it difficult to learn about the religious right, let alone have a thoughtful conversation about it, it is also hard to figure out how to learn the things that are most important to know. Blogs are helpful, but it is hard to get a foundation of knowledge from blogs alone.

Over the next little while, I will do a series of posts that can be your own personal home school curriculum on the subject. To start, here are five basic books (among many on the subject) that, taken together, provide a good foundation of knowledge that will be helpful in the run-up to this year's elections, as well as the elections of 2008. This foundation will also help to make sense of ongoing news reporting and blog posts you may encounter, and to provide some common knowledge and language among people who share your concerns about this powerful political movement.