I don’t get it. Andrew Sullivan is vexed by my reprinting a letter from a reader which contained the following observation:

“Many social conservatives in America believe there is a God and a Holy Spirit and a Bible that condemns homosexuality as an abomination, and they will not be defeated.”

And then Andrew asks, “Can you imagine Jonah quoting a fundamentalist Muslim who simply asserted that ‘many social conservatives in America believe there is one God who is Allah and a Koran that says that women have no right to vote.’”

Um, I can. In fact, I’ve quoted letters from all sorts of readers I disagree with on one level or another. But I don’t even disagree with either the real or even the hypothetical quotes above. I mean: Aren’t they both statements of fact? Many religious conservatives do believe there’s a God and a Holy Spirit and that homosexuality is an abomination and many Muslims do believe there is only one God who is Allah etc etc. Andrew may or may not be right that simply quoting scripture or the Koran isn’t an effective argument in this day and age, but simply because Andrew feels that way doesn’t mean that perspective should be permanently barred from the debate, does it? Just speaking personally, I think it makes the Corner a better and more interesting place when I quote letters from readers who disagree with me.