“What liberals find objectionable is a politicized vision of authentic faith that amounts to a simple set of core beliefs…”

What liberal “elites” — believers and nonbelievers — find objectionable is not religion, but rather a partisan twist on religious literacy that privileges one tradition, excludes historical-critical study, and maintains, against all evidence, that education and exposure to multiple perspectives creates religious ignorance instead of dispelling it.

What liberals find objectionable is shameless propaganda that turns Christianity into a wedge issue — the war on Christmas! secular baby killers! destroying God’s vision of marriage! — as if there were no Christians who say, “Happy Holidays,” or believe God is fine with same-sex marriage, or think abortion should be legal.

What liberals find objectionable is a politicized vision of authentic faith that amounts to a simple set of core beliefs, best discovered by looking at a ballot or into a mirror. It is this dangerous and mistaken vision that explains why nearly half of Republicans think, incredibly, that if Obama doesn’t agree with them politically he must belong to a different religion.

Alan Levinovitz, “Americans — not just liberals — have a religious literacy problem”, Vox (5 January 2017) [http://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/1/5/14166366/religious-illiteracy-conservative-liberal]