About this time two years ago former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was leading the race for the Democrat nomination for president and trying to broaden his appeal by touting his religious beliefs. I don't know about the state of Dean's relationship with God, but whatever it is, he didn't represent it well publicly.

When chided for his fiery attacks on President Bush, Dean proclaimed -- in contradiciton to Jesus Christ's description -- that Bush wasn't "his neighbor." When asked what his favorite New Testament book was, Dean replied "Job" -- an Old Testament book. The crowning moment in Dean's effort to reach out to the religious community was his holiday message. I use that term deliberately, because on Dec. 25, 2003, Howard Dean's message mentioned neither Christmas or Jesus.

No matter how hard they claim they're trying to reach out to religious believers, you get the feeling that those efforts are at best insincere. Today's evidence:

That was a sticker you could buy, for a short time, on the Web site of the Washington State Democrat Party. [More details here.]

Who are you selling that to? Militant atheists. I don't think there's anyone who would call themselves a Christian who would purchase that bumper sticker and put it on their car -- even Democrats (and there are people who vote Democrat who are Christian, but if they keep this up there will continue to be fewer of them).