By Rekha Basu

Of everything coming out of this year's Iowa Family Leadership Summit, the fear factor is what stayed with me. It was a constant, discomfiting undercurrent, like a loose nail poking up in your shoe.

It was organization President Bob Vander Plaats declaring this a time of "spiritual warfare," and speaker Joel Rosenberg announcing America is "on the road to collapse" and "implosion," and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee warning grimly, "We are living in some very dangerous times."

The third year of the event, sponsored by the self-described Christ-centered organization that seeks to influence policy and elections, brought big-name politicians Bobby Jindal, Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz and Rick Perry to Ames on Saturday. They were there to rally the Republican base in the lead-off caucus state. But the upbeat, love-God-and country tone of previous events appeared at times to have been replaced by a somber, calamitous note of foreboding. Even Satan got a few mentions.

Projected onto a giant screen to punctuate Vander Plaats' remarks was a video filled with haunting images of Osama bin Laden, Adam Lanza and the Boston Marathon bombings. It depicted a rising national debt, marijuana, Boys Scouts, gay rainbow flag and a woman holding up a "Keep abortion legal" sign. It ended with someone yelling, "God is dead. Hail Satan!"

Sponsors and speakers still exalted matrimony and procreation in heterosexual relationships, called for putting God back in the classroom and government, and called abortion murder. But this year's message was: The nation is in moral decline. Ignore it at your own peril. That was even carried into foreign policy.

Rosenberg, an evangelical Christian born to a Jewish father, said the United States must not support a two-state solution with Israel and Palestinians because a sovereign Palestinian state "defies the biblical mandate."

It's interesting that a Christian American would presume to tell Palestinian Muslims they don't deserve a homeland because of what the Bible says. This follows an evangelical belief that Jews from around the world will gather in Israel, where the second coming of Christ will occur and — though Rosenberg didn't spell this out — be converted to Christianity.

"God loves you, but if we don't receive Christ, there are consequences," Rosenberg warned.

Is fear a new strategy for the Family Leader and its affiliated Family Research Council and Focus on the Family? Is it a response to flagging interest and political losses? Organizers said there were 1,200 attendees Saturday and that there has been steady growth in three years, but many seats were empty. Is it a concession they're losing the battle over abortion and gay rights?

Abortion has not been completely outlawed, even under a conservative U.S. Supreme Court majority. Having succeeded at getting three justices of the Iowa Supreme Court voted out over same-sex marriage a few years ago, the Family Leader failed in its more recent campaign against a fourth. Same-sex couples are celebrating wedding anniversaries with children and grandchildren, and the planet has survived.

What the planet might not ultimately survive — global warming — wasn't on the agenda. In fact, if this were a true gathering of faith leaders, one might have expected some commitment to keeping the environment healthy, some compassion for the poor and immigrants.

There were calls for abolishing the entire tax system that sustains the poor in times of need. There were calls for boosting border patrols to turn back young asylum-seekers before their cases are heard. Iowa's Gov. Terry Branstad boasted of cutting 1,400 state employees and cutting property taxes, which fund education, more than ever in Iowa history.

But if it were a political forum to vet candidates, a Jewish, Muslim, agnostic or atheist one would have had no place there. In one video, Billy Graham's daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, said, "The only place you get right with God is at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ."

Outside in the parking lot, some protesters from Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers, which describes itself as a social and educational organization, objected. "The summit is attempting to define legislation through Christian dogma," said protester Jason Benell. "They want to blur the line between church and state. That's not what Iowans want."

He also objected to the idea that faith was necessary to have a good family. His group sees a ramping up of religious rhetoric in response to the Family Leader's "fear of losing its base."

Everyone will, of course, vote according to their own priorities. But America is not a theocracy, so it's alarming to see politicians playing into the notion that worshipping Jesus should be a prerequisite for federal or state office.

America also cannot base its Mideast policy on some biblical interpretation about Israel. Whatever our religious affiliation, or lack of it, I'd guess most voters have better explanations for Sept. 11 or the Sandy Hook shootings than God's revenge — and I think they would like to hear practical, reason-based solutions from those seeking office.