This is the politics of hate, and in Nebraska it is overwhelmingly popular.

Because of its increasingly Republican tilt, Nebraska offers a glimpse of what conservatives would do nationally if they could, and how they would go about it. In America respect for religious freedom often translates into an illogical deference to anything termed religious, allowing intolerance to run under the banner of religious belief. Anti-gay bigotry in Nebraska is no different. Prominent among its supporters, Nebraska's Mormons, evangelicals and Roman Catholics rallied around the flagpole to pass Proposition 419.

"We gave Jesus Christ honor and glory," said the organizer, whose subsequent move to take a job with a prominent ex-gay ministry begs the question of what is the radical Christian right's final solution.

Even the state's three Catholic Bishops, who are usually more reserved than their evangelical brethren, couldn't resist taking an early and forceful stance in support of the initiative. In addition to their public support, they mailed pictures of the Pope with biblical quotes about marriage to all of Nebraska's Catholics, who voted 3-1 in favor.

A group of nine black ministers representing more than 40 congregations was less subtle, pledging at a press conference that gay marriage "is straight out of hell and we need to send it back where it came from." Turning to an automotive metaphor to disparage the idea that love between gay people is even possible, one of them said, "Look in your car, a battery is no good with two positive posts or two negative posts."

The religious proponents, of course, don't consider themselves anti-gay. Nor do the black pastors see any parallels to the church's opposition to interracial marriage 30 years ago. Instead, victory is spun by organizers as mark of "progressive thinking" that respects the "boundaries that need to be retained for the continuation of civilization as we know it."

What about the 30 percent who opposed Proposition 419? Most were young, but they're leaving. According to a recent Omaha World-Herald survey, one-third of Omaha residents younger than 35 said they definitely or probably would move from Omaha within five years. "It's still got the whole hick, backward national impression," one of them said.