Religious conservatives are pushing an obscure legal maneuver to rewrite the U.S. Constitution to better reflect their views, a secular watchdog group warned Wednesday.

The Constitution has been revised throughout the nation’s history by gaining support for amendments by two-thirds of the House of Representatives and then the approval of three-fourths of the states.

But it can also be changed if two-thirds of the states apply for a constitutional convention, and a conservative activist is pushing Bible Belt lawmakers to call for this never-attempted mechanism.

Michael Farris, founder and president of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, is behind the Convention of the States campaign that seeks to limit the federal government through the obscure procedure.

The group’s website lists fairly mundane goals – a balanced budget amendment, clarified definitions of the general welfare and commerce clauses, and limits on federal taxation – but most constitutional experts agree that a constitutional convention would open any topic for discussion and possible change.

COS does not specifically mention religion in its goals, but the movement is closely tied to conservative activists who promote the unhistorical idea that the U.S. was founded as a ‘Christian nation.”

Those supporters include the pseudo-historian David Barton, religious broadcaster Rick Green and right-wing talk […]