Speaking at the recent Reclaiming America for Christ conference, (televangelist D. James Kennedy's annual political rally), Ann Coulter not only repeated her now infamous anti-gay slur to the Christian group, but she declared that she can "understand" the assassination of doctors who perform legal abortions.

In demagogic fashion, Coulter first presented the shocking view -- and then wink, wink -- said she didn't really mean it; but in doing so, still held fast to the argument that leaders of the underground Army of God have used for years to justify the murder of abortion providers -- which she calls "a procedure with a rifle."  

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, long a figure on the religious right, has a warning for his conservative Christian friends:  books now on the shelves in the nation's book stores threaten them like Osama Bin Laden and Adolph Hitler. At least a little. Or maybe a lot.

Lapin says they are part of a "propaganda blitzkreig" -- one that puts TV talk show host  Bill O'Reilly's claimed war on Christmas to shame: The war is on Christianity itself.  Well, at least, you know, the right kinds of Christians. Lapin writes in the World Net Daily:  

The war is against those who regard the Bible to be God's revelation to humanity and the Ten Commandments to be His set of rules for all time.

In the life of successful social and political movements, leaders, elections, and even institutions come and go, but the movement goes on. This has certainly been true of the religious right. The recent elections, for example, were a set back, and there is some shaking out going on:  but there is no evidence that the wider movement has peaked.

But I have opened here with a disgression.  This post is not about the religious right. It is about us.

According to a press release issued by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Pastor Herb Lusk, host of the Religious Right's "Justice Sunday III" rally this weekend in Philadelphia, "has a long history of partisan activity on behalf of Republicans and has been awarded more than $1 million in 'faith-based' grants by the Bush administration."

Yes, countering the religious right is a culture shock -- in part because there are relatively few people who actually do it, and even fewer who do it well. That is changing. But what is unchanged, is that it is usually quite difficult for people to take-in disturbing new information. And taking-in disturbing new information is made more difficult when it is presented in an unnecessarily alarming fashion, or in ways that exaggerate it's signficance. That's why I was glad to be pleasantly reminded of two organizations that approach these subjects with dedication, cool heads, and a rigorous approach to gathering facts and presenting analysis.