I was pounding a few beers on Wednesday, hoping that a little fermented barley juice might wash some of the rage from my soul. Didn't work.

Found myself ranting about our own home-brewed religious extremists, from the militia nuts to Jerry Falwell and the Christian right. My imbibing compatriot, who could hardly be counted as religious himself, cut me off right there.

"Hey, now, Jerry's a wacko and all, but he doesn't sanction the taking of human life."

"Other than executions," I corrected.

"Other than executions," he allowed. "Can't put him in the same league as Osama bin Laden."

Or so we thought.

Thursday night, on Pat Robertson's "700 Club," Falwell said the following:

"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the A.C.L.U., People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.' "

Did Pat Robertson say, "Wait a minute there, pal, you're going a bit nutty on me."? No, he said, "Well, I totally concur."

When the A.C.L.U., People for the American Way, NOW and plenty of other groups and organizations protested, the White House issued a statement saying that President Bush doesn't share these views and finds them "inappropriate."

I could think of a few decidedly more forceful phrases, but any step the president takes away from those nut jobs is a good one.

Were Pat and Jerry chastened by the furor? Hardly. In a statement issued Friday (I found it on Robertson's christianity.com website, so I can't be accused of getting it wrong), Robertson said he believed that terrorists were responsible for Tuesday's tragedy and that he has called for the nation to pray for the firefighters and police officers and victims (groups that are not mutually exclusive, as we well know). And then he said this:

"I again emphasize that there are organizations within the United States that have labored unceasingly to strip religious values from our public square, and, in the process, to take away the mantle of divine protection which our nation has enjoyed ever since the days of its founding."

I'm not trying to point fingers here, but much of the international resentment against the United States flows in response to such nonsensical arrogance. The United States is not a Christian nation, despite numerous claims to the contrary. All of the founding fathers were not Christian, certainly not in such a way as would be recognized today. Just to give one example, Thomas Jefferson was a deist, which meant that he believed God created the universe and then went on extended holiday, never to return. Many other of our early leaders held similar views that were popular during the Enlightenment.

I'm to first to acknowledge the great influence Christianity and other religions have had on our nation. Much of our greatness as a nation comes from a religious source of one kind or another. There can be no doubt about that. But to claim that we as Americans are the new "chosen ones," to tell the rest of the world that "God is on our side and you can't touch us," well, such arrogance is simply appalling. It fosters an understandable hatred against our country--though such hatred or its roots in no way countenance or give even the slightest justification for Tuesday's attacks. And even ignoring the ugly events of September 11, such religion-based jingoism certainly runs contrary to the principle of humility that Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Confucius and most other great religious leaders taught.

I called my friend on Saturday. He agreed that you've gotta put Falwell (and Robertson) in the same category as bin Laden. All three claim to have a special line to God which tells them precisely what God believes and what God is doing. They believe that God has given them special dispensation to do his (their terminology) will as they see fit. Most importantly, they claim to know the mind of God.

Hubris is an ugly thing to behold. Since the invention of writing, humanity has detailed the ugly fall of those afflicted by its charms. Somehow, I don't believe Falwell and Robertson are particularly well-versed on their Sophocles. They might consider an all-nighter, and then see how they feel the next morning. Maybe then they would stop spewing ignorance and hatred.

A man can dream, can't he?

Jon Worley would like nothing more than to write an obituary for the influence of the religious right. He's not dumb enough to think that day will come anytime soon.