A lot of email on this one. Several of them include references to my being “full of s***.” People express their devotion to the Lord in so many ways. Here’s the most thoughtful email:

“Though I think the Family Research Council could have expressed their

thoughts so as to guard against your objections, you need to understand

that ‘the liberal, anti-Christian dogma of the left’ is to them a system

of beliefs which includes those of the religious Left as well as the

militantly secular Left. While in a certain sense the FRC recognize

that there is a religious Left, they do not understand them to be either

people of Christian faith or of, if you will, moral moral conviction.

Rather they believe that the ‘faith’ of the religious Left is very much

that of the secular Left: faith in things of this world and therefore

not true Christian faith at all. Likewise they are convinced that the

convictions of the religious Left in respect of the general category of

morality are immoral. Thus when they say that the judicial nominees

’are being blocked because they are people of faith and moral

conviction,’ what they mean to say is that they are being blocked

because they are people of genuine Christian faith and of genuine

Christian moral conviction.

“If, then, you do them the courtesy of inserting the ‘genuine Christian’

before ‘faith’ and ‘moral conviction’ you should recognize that this is

not slander, but rather is descriptive of ideological and theological

differences. What the Left says of the Christian Right is often not

printable in respectable publications and is more often not true.

Broadly speaking, however, what the Family Research Council is saying of

the Left is true, at least as long as you allow them to define their terms.

“Consequently when you say: ‘But opposition to Catholicism and

evangelical Protestantism is not the same thing as opposition to

religion in general, and opposition to pro-life views is not the same

thing as opposition to moral conviction, either’ you are rather ignoring

their point. They care nothing for ‘religion in general’ and their

point is not in respect to that. Rather their point is that the

Democrats are opposed to any and all who hold to traditional/ biblical

Christian teaching as such and that both secular and religious

opposition to pro-life views is inherently immoral and anti-Christian.

“Consequently I think you are mistaken when you say that ‘The FRC’s line

that Democrats are filibustering “people of faith” is an overreach.’

Their line actually is that Democrats are filibustering people of

genuine Christian faith. This claim is true and consequently I think

you should reconsider your position.”

My response: If what the FRCers mean is that Democrats are against “genuine Christian faith” as defined by them, then they should say so–or at least say “genuine Christian faith” rather than “faith and moral conviction.” Or they could say “genuine faith and moral conviction” and add an asterisk explaining that they don’t believe that liberal Jews, Unitarians, Episcopalians, etc., have any genuine faith or moral conviction. That would still be offensive. But at least it wouldn’t be misleading.