'Christian group' attempts to sabotage effort for religious freedom

Leaked email from Faith in Public Life tells reporters to reject the view that there is a 'war on the Catholic Church'

John Gehring of Faith in Public Life. CNA

I'm sure the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops anticipated a backlash over their efforts to fight President Obama's anti-Catholic policies like the HHS mandate, but I don't think they anticipated the backlash to come from other Christians.

Catholic News Agency (CNA) is reporting that a secret email by John Gehring, Catholic program director for the liberal Faith in Public Life group, reveals an effort to undercut the "Fortnight for Freedom" campaign:

Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, released the e-mail detailing the campaign on June 18. He said a copy of the e-mail had been leaked to him.

Donohue said “fair minded persons” may disagree with the religious freedom effort “but there is something unseemly going on when those who work for a George-Soros-funded group are quietly providing talking points to the media.”

FYI: George Soros is a campaign donor to Barack Obama.

CNA went on to report that the email encouraged the press:

to “ask critical questions” about the bishops’ “sweeping claims” in light of a “charged political backdrop” ahead of the 2012 election.  It noted that both the June 8 “Stand Up for Religious Freedom” rallies and the June 21 - July 4 “Fortnight for Freedom” campaign include Catholic dioceses.

 Gehring also wrote that the "war on religion" is a "fiction" made up by the bishops.

It classified as “fiction” U.S. bishops’ conference president Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s statement that the administration is “strangling” the Catholic Church. Gehring also suggested news media ask whether bishops should be concerned about the religious freedom campaign “becoming politicized in an election year.”