I hope this is just post-election hysteria

I've seen way too many liberals responding to the election as if George Bush is about to install a theocracy (for example, see these comments, and many of the posts here).

What this tells me is that people who believe this simply have no idea who people like me are. Somehow, conservative Christian is equated with Pat Robertson. Now, Pat and I might share some common views, but he definitely does not reflect my theology nor how my theology impacts my politics. I have absolutely zero interest in a theocracy, and I know that the vast majority of people who think like me are in the same boat.

The "moral values" people who gave Bush the election aren't interested in theocracy... they're just interested in human rights (in the case of abortion) and maintaining the traditional family structure (in the case of same-sex marriage). Neither of these require the imposition of a religious viewpoint, meaning that they can be understood through reason alone. That they aren't is sometimes the fault of those making the argument, and sometimes the fault of those hearing it. Either way, we don't need to replace the Constitution with the Bible or the Catechism to make the pro-life and pro-family case. For whatever reason (and the fault is sometimes our own), that's not typically understood by those who disagree with those views.

There is no theocracy coming. Hopefully, just a better recognition of human dignity and the nature of the human family.