Much has been written about the great divide that exists in the country. The red states. The blue states. The right wing, the left. Liberals, conservatives. Church go-ers, the nonbelievers. It is as if it is all a new phenomenon, this difference among Americans.

In politics, the seat of power is no longer here in the Northeast. No more do Kansans think like Cantabridgians, if indeed ever they did. Since Boston's John Kennedy's 1960 election, when there was a Democrat in the White House and the party held solid majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats have seen their power slowly erode. Now, Republican might has preempted the Dems, and it could be that way for years to come.

Last weekend, NBC News' estimable Meet the Press moderator, Tim Russert, hosted a discussion among four ministers. The topic was politics, and each of the putative Christian men of the cloth had his own unique spin on what message Christ would have for our country. Two of the four, Al Sharpton and Jerry Falwell, already have strayed far from the pulpit, deep into the practice of partisan politics. Now, the great American divide reaches into the churches: two of the ministers voted for George Bush, two for John Kerry. There was no agreement among the four, no apparent willingness to act together from a sense of shared beliefs.

More troubling than the differences among us is the trend to demonize people who do not agree with us. To the true believer, the recent election was about more than politics- it was a campaign against the devil himself. For evangelicals, the great satan was the Democratic nominee John Kerry; for the extreme leftists, George W was the real Lucifer- if indeed, for them, there are such places as heaven or hell.

As we approach the end of this fourth year of a new century, Americans finds themselves at war. Not just in Iraq, or with Al Quaida, but with each other. It is not a national discussion over morals, or ethics, not a vigorous debate over political philosophies. For too many it has become a battle over orthodoxy, and biblical interpretation. We Americans have become a frightened, intimidated people, and we run the danger of letting others do our thinking for us. There are no easy answers, only many tough questions, and chief among them is this: what is to become of us?

- Ed Forry