A new Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll finds that 39% of Republicans likely to participate in Iowa’s presidential caucuses say they are inclined to view Islam as an inherently violent religion that inspires brutality by its followers.

“Twice as many Democrats—along with a majority of Republicans—say they view the world’s second largest religion as inherently peaceful.”

“A group wanted to put up a Christian Nativity scene at the Capitol. But the rules are that it must be put up in the morning and taken down at night. No one volunteered. I cannot stand by and allow Satan to win this one. I have volunteered to put up and take down the Christian Nativity scene everyday.”

— Michigan Rep. Rick Jones (R), quoted by the Huffington Post.

A GOP lawmaker in Alabama “wants to erect a monument at the courthouse that would feature the Ten Commandments alongside other historical documents,” the Birmingham News reports.

Said Tim Guffey (R): “What I’m trying to do is erect a monument of historical documents. It’s the Constitution, the Ten Commandments and the Declaration of Independence. I feel like that’s what this country was founded on. These documents helped America become the greatest country in history.”

Kansas GOP official Gavin Ellzey said last month that “offending Muslims is the duty of any civilized person,” the Kansas City Star reports.

He added: “Especially with a .45.”

Wonk Wire: Strong connection between religion and political identity

“The influence of religious conservatives might be waning nationwide, but the movement only stands to grow in Congress,” Roll Call reports.

“Already this year, three candidates with close ties to massive churches won decisive Republican primaries. A fourth — Pastor Jody Hice — could win a Tuesday GOP primary runoff in Georgia and come to Congress in November.”

“Their victories come as public opinion has shifted dramatically on some social issues, notably same-sex marriage, denounced by most religious conservatives. The rise of the tea party and libertarian factions in the Republican Party has also diluted the influence of social conservative activists in the GOP.”

New York Times: “Jewish Republicans know they are not many in number. But at a recent gathering at the St. Regis Hotel in downtown Washington, they pondered the meaning of an especially alarming figure: zilch. As in zip, bupkis, zero.”

“The stinging defeat last month of Eric Cantor, the House majority leader and the highest-ranking Jewish politician in American history, has created the possibility of Republicans having no Jewish representation in the House or Senate for the first time in more than a half-century.”

A new Gallup poll finds 72% of U.S. Muslims approved of the job President Obama was doing as president during the first six months of 2014, higher than any other U.S. religious group Gallup tracks. Mormons were least approving, at 18%.

In general, majorities of those in non-Christian religions — including those who do not affiliate with any religion — approved of Obama, while less than a majority of those in the three major Christian religious groups did.

“Although Islam has a religious component, it is much more than a simple religious ideology. It is a complete geo-political structure and, as such, does not deserve First Amendment protection.”

— Georgia congressional candidate Jody Hice (R), quoted by the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

“Take me to fucking court because I don’t care. Minorities are not going to run my city.”

— La Vista, Nebraska Mayor Douglas Kindig, quoted by the Daily Beast, on atheists questioning his town-sponsored “day of faith.”

Alabama chief justice Roy Moore suggested earlier this year that the First Amendment only protects the religious speech of Christians, the Huffington Post reports.

Said Moore: “Everybody, to include the U.S. Supreme Court, has been deceived as to one little word in the First Amendment called ‘religion.’ They can’t define it.” Moore said. “They can’t define it the way Mason, Madison and even the United State Supreme Court defined it, ‘the duties we owe to the creator and the manner of discharging it.’ They don’t want to do that, because that acknowledges a creator god. Buddha didn’t create us. Mohammed didn’t create us. It’s the god of the Holy Scriptures.”

He added: “They didn’t bring a Koran over on the pilgrim ship, Mayflower. Let’s get real. Let’s go back and learn our history.”

Louisiana state Rep. Thomas Carmody (R) “scrapped his proposal to make the Holy Bible the official state book before it could go to a full vote of the state House of Representatives,” the New Orleans Times Picayune reports.

“The bill had become a distraction, he said. In introducing the legislation, Carmody always maintained he was not taking steps to establish a state religion, but rather to educate people.”