Whether secular, urban liberals, sheltered as they are, realize it or not, there are a hell of a lot of moderate and liberal people of faith (Christians and others) who vote Democrat every fall, and we hardly appreciate it when you paint us with the same brush that you use on hacks like Donohue.

If you want to keep up the pretense that at some point in your life you would ever consider voting for a Democrat other than -- maybe -- Zell Miller, you need to brush up on the language employed by moderates and liberals. Moderates and liberals vote Democrat ic; "Democrat" as anything other than a singular noun is a conservative affectation.

Now, as it happens, I am a liberal "person of faith" and a semi-regular Pandagon commenter. I didn't find Amanda's "Plan B" comment particularly funny -- or, come to think, at all funny -- at the time, and still don't. But I found it then, and still find it, to be pretty harmless. I attend Quaker meeting not because of the miracle of virgin birth, or the resurrection of Christ, or for the hope of the resurrection of the dead, but because I believe Quaker teachings help me to live rightly. Attaching a gross-out "eww!" factor to the story of Christ's birth does absolutely no damage to Christ's teachings; it's about as much of a threat to my religion as someone saying "when Christ was a child, He picked His nose."

If Amanda had said "we spend too much time and money trying to help the poor," that would offend my religious beliefs. If she had said "if there's a chance that Saddam Hussein has access to chemical weapons, we should invade, even if he has no current plans to use them," that would offend my religious beliefs. It's because she never said such things, and never would, that I find her atheism to be closer to real Christianity than what is practiced by a depressingly large number of people who identify as Christians.