Forget the religious right. It doesn’t control elections anymore.

It has been replaced by a new political ecumenism:  evangelical greens.

They worship nature. Among their high priests is U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo.

Salazar has shown his devotion to nature by depriving   countrymen their best hope for abundant oil, and freedom from Middle East oil thugs who hate the United States. He has worked hard for nature by standing between humankind and the West’s abundant supply of shale oil.

The evangelical greens believe something unproved: Humans are destroying Earth. The belief holds that cars and homes hurt nature, much like the old religious right viewed smoking and drinking as affronts to God.

Evangelical greens believe theoretical global warming concerns should supercede the welfare of the United States.

Influenced by Salazar, the U.S. Senate has opted to frustrate efforts by oil companies to begin producing crude from shale — because it might hurt nature.

Our country is in peril. The mortgage crisis worsens, the value of the dollar continues to fall, consumer inflation continues to rise, Wall Street is trembling, and the jobless rate in May took its biggest leap in more than two decades.

At the root of our troubles are oppressive oil prices, controlled mostly by foreigners hostile toward the U.S.

This would be a great time for our nation’s political leaders to engage crisis mode, and work tirelessly through the nights trying to solve the energy crisis that’s sinking our economy. Instead, they’re honoring nature.

Forbes magazine senior writer Jon Birger described Salazar as “the Senate’s leading oil shale opponent.” Salazar slipped a moratorium on adopting rules for oil shale development in last year’s omnibus spending bill. He successfully extended the moratorium in May, further frustrating efforts by Shell and other big oil companies that have invested scores of millions into oil shale research in the past decade.

A bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee sought to kill Salazar’s moratorium in May, but it lost by one vote. The bill would have moved us in the direction of more domestic oil soon. It was expected to pass with the support of Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. But Landrieu voted against the measure.

“Sen. Salazar asked me to vote no. I did so at his request,” Landrieu told the Rocky Mountain News.

Obstacles to this unprecedented opportunity for oil have outraged politicians who don’t worship nature.

Colorado, Utah and Wyoming are home to 800 billion barrels of oil in the form of shale. It’s fuel the big oil companies want to extract, and it’s more potential crude than all Middle East countries have combined.

The chief scientist at Royal Dutch Shell, Harold Vinegar, should be riding in a hero’s parade by now. His work helped other scientists figure out an efficient and environmentally friendly way to convert shale into crude.

But the oil companies aren’t mining and Vinegar remains unknown.

Few Americans even know big oil is anxious to harvest oil  in the continental U.S. Instead, they’re busy trying to afford $4-a-gallon fuel and turning on the TV to hear the latest sermon about global warming and the evil American car.

Salazar says he merely wants to slow down the plans for oil shale development, so that environmental issues in Western Colorado aren’t neglected. He has done this, however, by shutting down the process of deciding who can do what with regards to oil shale.

And gas prices rise.

The U.S. isn’t hurting for lack of its own oil. And it’s not the victim of oil companies refusing to explore.

Rather, we’re held hostage by fundamentalist greens — people who believe the United States threatens Mother Nature.