I don't really think so. I'd call it more a form of identification that makes them feel righteous and provides some hell insurance.
>The question is why the fanatic minority, which had miniscule
>cultural and political power in general mid-century, has been able to vault
>to the center of political power to the extent that the President states
>that Jesus is his favorite philosopher and critical biological research is
>disabled in the name of fighting cloning's assault on god's law.
That's a more interesting question. The neo-fundamentalism of both west and east arise simultaneously in the early seventies. What they have in common is support for capitalist relations in a time of economic and political crises. Both movements depend upon "religion" to supply an artificial social/familial order, enforced by an oppressive state apparatus. Thus, they fill the social void that grows in the wake of ever-expanding and corrosive capitalist relations without addressing the fact that this social void is an effect of those relations. The only "purity" they offer is the purity of totalitarian rule.
Joanna