Well that’s exactly how the other side felt during the previous administration. It’s natural instinct to “otherize” and vilify our opponents, and that can only increase polarization. A collapse of some degree, or at minimum, a painful and messy realignment is probably inevitable. But if it could be avoided it would be by enough people doing something very counter-intuitive: seeking common ground, instead of demonizing. But you may as well go ahead and buckle your seatbelts, ‘cause that ain’t gonna happen.

I think it is high treason to "put a God before the American people".

Evangelicals in gov't is like Stevie Wonder in the cockpit of a jet.

no, just no.

The separation of church and state as written in the constitution should be upheld and enforced. I'm not what laws you're referring to that serve god before country. Could you elaborate?

So what is the best way to counter this?

First of all we must support those who think the way we do. There are many organizations we can call upon to voice our concerns. A few of these are ACLU,Freethinkers, Skeptics. It is difficult unless we are organized to present our view where the Constitution is not being followed. The separation of church and state is being violated by our present legislators. The voucher system for schools, allowing political statements from the pulpit, teaching creationism in public school are all direct violations of the Constitution. Because of the fear of addressing religion which has some exalted position in our society the evangelicals are passing legislation and influencing our laws in a manner that is against the Constitution.Atheist's must come out of the closet

If I could afford it and qualified for immigration, I might just be in Canada already.

There is no freedom of religion without freedom from religion. That is something that many fundamentalists get wrong.

Too many fundamentalists think that freedom of religion means the "freedom" to impose one's religion on others.

We are seeing our government being taken over by Neo Nazis. I'm not being dramatic. Concentration camps are the result of a successful established Nazi government. We are at the infant stages of Nazism, which was and is a Christian movement. We have eroded the separation between state and church for so long and now it is happening at an accelerated rate. This is an important link set to music, which shows how history is repeating itself. "Hitler, The Last Christian Crusade"

All members of the religious right who seek to impose their views on us have feet of clay We must find and expose their hypocrisies. At the same time, we must oppose also fight the comingling of politics and religion in court.

i think eventually they won't be the ones in government anymore so there isn't too much to worry about

Yes, I do think that the conservative right has overtaken our government and I fear greatly for the separation of church and state. I live in Indiana where VP Pence was governor and the actions he took were often based on his view of Christian values. He has no concept of the why the separation of church and state is so very important. He drove businesses out of Indiana because of some the legislation he signed into law. People like him scare almost as much as DT. I think Pence is calmer (read, not insane) but his agenda is counterproductive to a government free from religious interference.

I quite often hear Christians state that "our government was founded on Judeo-Christian values". That MAY be true from their perspective but for me, our government was founded on human and humane principles that had nothing to do with any particular religion. Christians, nor any religious group, can lay sole claim to the idea of human values. NO government should ever be run by one religious group to the exclusion of all others including non-believers.

I truly fear for our country because of this. When our Supreme Court decided that Corporations were the same as people, I was astonished and very afraid of the fallout. Now, because the Republicans successfully blocked the nomination of Merrick Garland for eleven months thus deprived Pres. Obama of his lawful right to make that appointment, we now have another conservative Supreme Court thanks to DT's conservative appointment.

Finally, at the 2016 AHA conference, a study was cited stating that countries who were the most religious (the USA is definitely one of them) are the most dysfunctional countries and the people are less content than countries who are less obviously religiously leaning. Our country is a perfect example of the this and I fear it is not going to get better any time soon.

So, if you are an atheist, agnostic, democrat, run for office, know the US constitution and support it in all your work. VOTE!! I'm not suggesting we shouldn't vote for religious people, just make sure that they understand the tenets of the Constitution and fully support the separation of church and state.

This is a HUGE problem and it is only becoming more so. Why don't people realize that "freedom of religion" also means that Christianity can't be so pervasive in society and government that it is inescapable by those who do not share the faith? I wish I could also answer the 2nd part (what should be done about this) but there is SO much...

Religion relies on faith. Faith is belief without evidence. So religious governments can be very dangerous.....

I think they serve heavy-polluting industries; "god" to them is just a way of getting votes from the mooks.

Are you serious.....of course they have and they're going to take full advantage of their control.

I fully agree with Paul628 on this. We have the numbers to stop it but we also can suffer from apathy and a lack of enthusiasm. We divide ourselves when our representative loses we give up or refuse to back the winner. Republicans don't suffer from this divide as often as we do.

I definitely think the Far Right is pushing religion into our laws, and they're pushing hard.
The number one thing is to vote, we need to show up at the polls and vote these clowns out of office.

These righties pander to their Christian base who get all fired up when they're told how they're being oppressed because they can't have all the laws in this country support their beliefs, so they rush to the polls and vote.

This gerrymandering mess needs to be cleaned up. Let's hope The Supreme Court gets that fixed.
Term limits for Congress and The Senate wouldn't hurt either. some of these guys are so entrenched many of them run unopposed.

7% of the population are varying degrees of psychopaths who hear voices and have no fear. They should be medicated. unfortunately actors and artists are in that same group with religious fundamentalists . We're surrounded. Get used to it. See Robert Buckman's lecture called the hurricane warning [ Top neurosurgeon in Toronto]