Chris Hedges, a Christian with a divinity degree from Harvard and son of a Presbyterian minister, said on NPR's "Talk of the Nation" Thursday that we've been too tolerant of some evangelical and fundamentalist leaders and their brand of Christianity.

Hedges sees a clear difference between conservative Christians and Catholics who follow and advocate Biblical or traditional values, and those who want to exterminate or dominate sinners through destruction, imprisonment or revocation of civil rights.

In his book, "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America," Hedges argues that "Christian fascists" push a "theology of despair" that emphasizes the sin of the worldand creates an alternative"world of magic, where God has a plan for you, and Jesus takes care of you and assures you of material success." Part of this theology is the scrambling ofChristian principles with American capitalism and other "national values." And it is particularly dangerous when it "masculinizes" Christianity and embraces violence as a "cleansing agent" that gets rid of wrong-doers.

Hedges points to Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson as practioners of Christian fascism. And certainly those individuals have made remarksto the effect that natural or man-made disasters are God's punishment in some way--usually followed quickly by clarifications orretractions.

But there areother fundamentalist and evangelical sites that quite openly revel in what they see as God's extermination of of sinners. Armyofgod.com advocates violence against abortionists. Repentamerica.com explains that Hurricane Katrina wasGod's wrath against the New Orleans homosexual parades. (I don't recommend visiting these sites unless you have a strong stomach.)

More disturbing to me werethe many marriage and family sites that included discussion threads on"headship" and "domestic discipline," which discussed appropriate ways for husbands to discipline their children and wives within literal interpretations of Scripture.

Most agreed that reprimands and occasionally revoking driving priveleges or "time outs" were acceptable. Some, however, promoted spanking and whipping, all justified with Biblical citations. And a few "Christian romance" sites turned out to be collections of pornographic stories replete with corporal punishments and and Bible verses. (I'm not going to provide links to this tripe, but it's fairly easy to find on your own if you don't want to take my word for it.)

Hedges says its time to stop being tolerant of this type of "Christianity" or waving away its practioners as "yahoos." He advocates stronger hate speech laws for a start.

A good idea? Other responses to Christian fascism? Or has Hedges overstated his case?