Liberal Christians are nice guys. The Religious Right is clobbering them.

Liberal Christians either don't fight back, or they pull punches. They like to quote Voltaire, the famous French philosopher who supposedly said, "I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

On the other hand, Religious Rightists neither ask for, not give, quarter as they smite liberal Christians with the "sword of the Lord." They pretty much dismiss liberal Christians -- liberals, period -- as hell-bound heathens.

"To a lot of fundamentalists," Bruce Bawer wrote in Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity, "God's love just isn't any fun unless you can find somebody else to deny it to."

Admittedly, conservative Christendom isn't monolithic. Not all "conservative Christians" believe their liberal brothers and sisters in Christ will end up sizzling with Satan.

Many conservative Christians aren't fundamentalists. Many, too, are draft dodgers in the Religious Right's verbal holy war against liberal Christianity. I know some conservative Christians who even vote Democratic.

Nonetheless, fundamentalist Religious Rightists think they are the future of American Christianity. The election of President George W. Bush and a host of other "family values" Republicans proves that "mainline" churches (including the PCUSA) are now "sideline" churches, a Religious Right leader recently bragged.

The Religious Right's strongest selling point seems to be certainty in an uncertain world. "God said it. I believe it. That settles it," is a popular Religious Right bumper sticker.

Liberal Christians may dismiss bumper sticker theology as glib. But everybody wants easy answers to hard questions. What could be simpler than "Trust Jesus," another well-traveled Religious Right bumper sticker slogan?

Liberal Christians believe in the old Social Gospel, which held that instead of focusing solely on the afterlife, Christians should help the poor and powerless in the here-and-now.

The Religious Right concentrates on the hereafter, preaching yet another simple but effective message: What is a short earthly life, no matter how difficult, compared to eternal bliss with Jesus in Heaven?

"Don't be fooled by this car. My reward is in Heaven" is another common Religious Right bumper sticker, especially on rusty old cars.

Religious Rightists' other big incentive for coming to Jesus is, of course, the unpleasant alternative: everlasting perdition. "Accept Jesus and live forever. Reject Jesus and burn forever" warns a series of hand-made, Burma Shave-style road signs near my old Kentucky home.

Liberal Christians question the tenets of their faith, a process which they see as healthy exercise for the soul. They think no belief system is worth anything if it can't withstand the challenge of difficult questions.

Liberal Christians believe that thoughtful, prayerful introspection is an essential part of their spirituality. As a result, liberal Christians don't promise easy answers to hard questions. Liberals offer nothing like the Religious Right's "repent or roast" message.

But here's a chink in the opposition's armor: simple might work in the short term, but is "God said it. I believe it. That settles it" long-term nourishment for the soul?

Human beings are by nature questioning critters. God made us so. The Creator gave the human animal, and no other organism, a brain capable of critical thought.

Religious rightists condemn critical thought as dangerous and "worldly." Could it be that deep down inside, the likes of the Revs. Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and James Dobson really fear their theology can't stand up to critical thought?

Here's a pair of posers for Religious Rightists: If God didn't want people to think critically, why did the Almighty wire us for critical thought? Since God gave us the power to think and reason, wouldn't thinking and reasoning be a good way to worship God?

Critical thought leads to tolerance, another plus among liberal Christians. Unlike those on the Religious Right, liberal Christians don't claim theirs is the only water. That's scriptural, too. "Judge not, lest ye be judged," the Good Book says.

But judge the Religious Right does, in churches and on campaign trails. The Religious Right has wedded itself to the Republican Right. Both groups have made "Christian" and "political conservative" synonyms to many Americans.

The Religious Right would have Americans believe that the Bible supports laissez-faire capitalism, the Republican Right's most cherished belief. The Religious Right acts as if GOP stands for "God's Own Party."

Thus, Democratic U.S. Senators -- the majority of them Christians -- who object to Bush's judicial nominees are "against people of faith." "You can't be a Christian and a Democrat" and "You can't be a Christian and a liberal" are stock charges from GOP Christian soldiers in the Bluegrass State, and I suspect elsewhere.

The "Patriot Pastors" are among the GOP's newest shock troops. "Patriotism," observed the eminent 18th-century English critic Samuel Johnson, "is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

Okay, quoting Samuel Johnson might sound like sour grapes to Religious Right preachers who boast of their "mega-churches." Some of these clerics barely hide their glee at the empty pews in "liberal" churches on Sunday mornings.

So WSLCD? (What Should Liberal Christians Do?)

Most importantly, liberal Christians ought to make it clear they too are "Bible-Believing Christians." Just as the Republican Right has hijacked the Stars and Stripes, Religious Rightists have stolen "Bible-Believing Christian" for themselves. The implication is obvious -- only Religious Right Christians believe in the Bible.

But in the Good Book, Jesus:

-- admonishes us to do unto others as we would have others do unto us.

-- says the meek, not the moneyed, shall inherit the earth.

-- runs the moneychangers out of the temple.

The Bible is also plain that wherever He went, Jesus preached love over hate, peace over war, charity over greed, and brotherhood and sisterhood over bigotry and exclusion.

Thus, liberal Christians ought to be asking Religious Right Christians to show us where in the Bible Christ preached religious or political conservatism. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying "You can't be a Christian and a Republican" or "You can't be a Christian and a conservative."

But based on scripture, I don't see the Son of God as a right-wing Republican Social Darwinist or union-buster. I don't see Christ joining the GOP chorus in opposing worker safety and health and environmental protection laws because such measures, too, might cost Him a few extra bucks.

So gimme that old time religion -- the liberal faith that inspired abolitionists, suffragettes, and farmer, labor, civil rights, women's rights and peace activists. Liberal Christians have been at the forefront of every important reform movement in U.S. history.

Make that Liberal Bible-Believing Christians.

-- Berry Craig is a professor of history at the West Kentucky Community and Technical College in Paducah. He and his wife, Melinda, are members of the Witherspoon Society.

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