Are right-wing Christians working to establish a theocracy in America?  

This argument is made by many social critics including Chris Hedges (American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America) and Jeff Sharlet (The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power). 

But nowhere in literature has the specter of religious totalitarianism in America been more frighteningly presented than in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. This month I will review four of Atwood’s books: The Year of the Flood; Oryx and Crake; The Handmaid’s Tale; and Writing with Intent: Essays, Reviews, Personal Prose –1983-2005. The focus of my reviews will be on the relation between religion and politics in Atwood’s writing. 

For starters, you may want to watch Bill Moyer’s 2006 interview of Margaret Atwood on the subject of religion:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/faithandreason/portraits_atwood.html 

(You can also watch the interview in three parts on You Tube):

I    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMrz_ivl8jo

II   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmVD7XcRb6Y&NR=1

III http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPDt73n7HD0&NR=1