'A Strange Way to Woo Religious Voters'

Michael Gerson writes an outstanding op-ed in the Washington Post (I'm a little surprised they ran it, actually) about the Democrats' attack ads on Louisiana Republican gubernatorial candidate Bobby Jindal.

The short version is that the Democrat party has begun actively courting 'religious' voters through various initiatives, but their efforts are hampered by their own attack ads. For example, in Louisiana, Bobby Jindal is a Republican candidate for Governor, and a Catholic (converted from Hindu). He is unabashed in his faith, so the Democrats ran ads that are both theologically ignorant and obviously a smear, saying Jindal "doubts the morals and questions the beliefs of Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Pentecostals and other Protestant religions." Clearly trying to drive a wedge between various Christian denominations (not 'religions'), the ads have made both Protestants and Catholics angry. Furthermore, Gerson notes that the ad "reveals a secular, liberal attitude: that strong religious beliefs are themselves a kind of scandal; that a vigorous defense of Roman Catholicism is somehow a gaffe."

Jindal's response?

"This would be a poorer society," he told [Gerson], "if pluralism meant the least common denominator, if we couldn't hold a passionate, well-articulated belief system. If you enforce a liberalism devoid of content, you end up with the very violations of freedom you were trying to prevent in the first place."

Fortunately, some of Jindal's biggest supporters are not Catholics at all, but Baptists, Evangelicals, and other Protestants, proof of the definition of genuine pluralism -- an adult respect for the strong convictions of others.

An excellent column on how liberalism views religion. Read the whole thing.

There's my two cents.