"I permit myself to wonder," Mr. Buckley leads off, "whether ... the day will come when the separationists win their ultimate victory, denying the right to mention the Pearly Gates on a public channel. Perhaps we would be permitted to do so if we referred to them as the 'allegedly' Pearly Gates. You laugh, but you'd have laughed a generation ago if told the Supreme Court would rule that a rabbi pronouncing a general benediction at a graduating ceremony in Rhode Island was judged by the Supreme Court-to be sure, by a vote of 5 to 4-as having violated the First Amendment's guarantee ..." We've been around this track many times before, but the range of reference, from Branch Davidians to Hasidim, is impressive, and the level of showmanship is top-notch-we even get Alan Dershowitz quoting Jesus to explain why prayer should be private.