The Government Invented The Internet.

Once The Cry And The Cause Of A Generation Of Progressives To Make America Safer, Fairer And Cleaner, 'regulation' Is Now A Dirty Word In Our Politics. Even Democrats Are Quick To Talk About Cutting Regulations; Republicans Hate Them With - How To Put It? - Evangelical Fervor.

The Fact Is That America Has Been At Her Most Prosperous When Government And The Private Sector Have Been Not At War, But In A Wary, If Often Underplayed, Alliance. History Is Unmistakable On This Point.

Among The Many Problems With Taking The Bible Literally Is It Reduces The Most Mysterious And Complex Of Realities To Simple - Even Simplistic - Terms. Yes, Scripture Speaks Of Fire And Damnation And Eternal Bliss, But The Bible Is The Product Of Human Hands And Hearts, And Much Of The Imagery Is Allegorical, Not Meteorological.

Extremists Often Derive Their Inspiration From Literal Interpretations Of Texts That Should Rightly Be Read Not As Associated Press Reports From The Ancient World, But As Theological And Literary Enterprises Requiring Independent Intellectual Assessment.

The Decline And Fall Of The Modern Religious Right's Notion Of A Christian America Creates A Calmer Political Environment And, For Many Believers, May Help Open The Way For A More Theologically Serious Religious Life.