You may recall the old truism the three things you shouldn’t discuss at a cocktail party are religion, politics, and, well, that last one often depends on the situation. But those first two tend to be commonly warned against as topics for conversation in polite society.

So, guess what we are going to talk about today?

This past weekend saw the Colorado Republicans gather, awkwardly, in Pueblo for their state assembly (back when I ran for Congress in 2008, both parties had “conventions,” which they do when there is a presidential election and “assemblies” in non-presidential election years. I suspect it is the same now), and it didn’t go smoothly. Apparently, it took hours to get people in the doors and the whole thing started quite late, but ultimately, they did get their formal process going.

Having been the Democratic Party county chair here in El Paso County, in addition to my congressional run, I know running things like assemblies is complex and hard to manage, given some of the more extreme delegates who show up at such things. So, I won’t mock them for disorganization. Rather, I will offer a few thoughts on a couple of their nominations. And, of course, I’ll talk about religion in politics, so I’m sure I’ll offend some folks (Editor: oh goody).

The governor’s race had no fewer than 18 GOPers competing to succeed the term-limited Jared Polis. That’s a lot of candidates. Now, in Colorado, both parties use a system wherein a person can get his or her name on the June primary by getting at least 30% of the vote at the state assembly, or by petitioning on by getting a certain number of signatures in each of Colorado’s congressional districts. Some of the 18 are going the petition route, and we’ll see how many ultimately end up with enough signatures to get on the ballot.

In the meantime, over the weekend, two Republicans hit the 30% or more level at the recent assembly and will appear on the primary ballot. And it is worth taking a look at what both gentlemen are putting forth as their vision for Colorado. Frankly, unless you are a fundamentalist evangelical, you may be a tad nervous thinking about either of these men running our state.

Current State Rep. Scott Bottoms got the most votes — 45% — at the assembly, so he gets to have his name listed first on the ballot, a position known as “top line.” It is not really clear from the evidence if top-line status really helps, but it can’t hurt. Next up Victor Marx, a Colorado Springs preacher, got 39%.

Both men are hard, hard right in their views. Marx, for example, wants to “restore parental rights” though as a parent of three, I’m not sure what rights I’ve lost. He also argues for defending the First and Second Amendments “without compromise,” whatever that means? We get flame throwers? RPGs?

What’s scary to me is these men — both involved in the faith community here in Colorado Springs — are quite sure they know what God wants and amazingly, it totally lines up with their own personal far-right views,

Both men assert their fidelity to President Donald Trump, and both are thrilled by the IRS’s “reinterpretation” of the Johson Amendment, which for more than 70 years had held churches, given their tax-exempt status, could not engage in politics and endorsement of candidates. Now they can, oh joy.

I’ve never understood the far-right’s apparent obsession with sex. Bottoms has claimed “there are pedophiles that traffic children that are elected representatives, all the way up to governor’s office.” He has pledged to go after all these folks, while also eliminating property taxes. Sure, that sounds reasonable.

One of Bottom’s supporters said, “I’m a born-again Christian, and he’s a pastor, so he answers to God, just like our founding fathers. That’s why they birthed this country, because they knew man was corrupt in his heart, but with God there, then you know that He’s omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent.”

Now, as I’ve often mentioned (Ed: bragged?), I’ve done a one-man show as Alexander Hamilton for more than 26 years, and I have a Ph.D. in American national government and the Constitution. I know a good bit about the Founding period and frankly, essentially none of the founders were, in fact, Christians, let alone extreme fundamentalists.

Jefferson was at best a Deist (like me) and when Hamilton was asked why there was no reference to God in the Constitution, he is reported to have said “we required no foreign assistance.” Adams comes as close as you will find to being a Christian, but as president signed one of the nation’s very first international agreements in the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli. In that text, we find these words: “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian Religion, — as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of (Islam)…” Not quite what the radical right is yelling these days.

I get nervous whenever anyone tells me they know exact what God wants, and those desires always seem to align with the person speaking’s point of view. And I’m really offended when anyone twists our Founding Fathers words in whatever way it takes to support their own hobby horse of ideas.

I think Sen. Bennet (full disclosure: my old boss) will win the election for governor come November. I will be pleased if that happens, of course, for policy reasons, but also because I oppose Colorado, or any state, becoming a de facto theocracy.

Both GOPers hoping to win the governor’s race seem content with their particular religious views becoming public policy. If we are talking about taking care of the poor and the needy, I’m on board, but that’s not the message that is coming through. Like Trump, their message seems to be about compelling behavior that is consistent with their particular religious quirks.

That may be an ok way to run a church, but not a state. Plus, don’t I remember that those two things are supposed to be separate?

Stay tuned.

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.