Scot McKnight has been hosting a spirited discussion about Randall Balmer's new book, "Thy Kingdom Come," over that the Jesus Creed . Scot's a monster blogger and an insightful commentator—and his posts are always worth reading.

Here's my two cents about Balmer's book, and the rest of the recent books about the religious right as the root of all evil in America.

I suspect that many Evangelicals (and conservative Catholics) vote Republican not because they love the religious right, but because either they see either they see that party as the lessor of two evils or because the Democratic party has made them feel unwelcome. Or because the last two Democratic presidential candidates (whom I supported) had been completely unable to communicate with people of faith.

Balmer all but admits that he wrote this book because he’s mad that George Bush was elected, twice. I suspect that it’s a lot easier to blame the religious right for this, than to ask the Democratic Party to take a cold hard look at how its failed in the last two presidential elections.

The last Democratic presidential candidate who could talk the language of faith and who could connect with ordinary voters was elected twice, and would win today in a landslide were it not for the 22nd ammendment. Without that ammendment, I suspect we’d be in the 4th term of the Clinton president. And nobody would be talking about the religious right.