One of the leaders of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., the sect to which Senate Majority Leader Frist belongs, will speak out tomorrow against the Senator's upcoming appearance on Sunday's anti-Democrat telethon. David D. Kirkpatrick and Sheryl Gay Stolberg have the story for The New York Times:

As the Senate battle over judicial confirmations became increasingly entwined with religious themes, officials of several major Protestant denominations on Thursday accused the Senate Republican leader, Bill Frist, of violating the principles of his own Presbyterian church and urged him to drop out of a Sunday telecast that depicts Democrats as "against people of faith."

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Religious groups, including the National Council of Churches and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, are planning a conference call with journalists on Friday to criticize Senator Frist's participation in the telecast. The program is sponsored by Christian conservative organizations that want to build support for Dr. Frist's filibuster proposal.

Among those scheduled to speak in the conference call is the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, a top official of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., in which Dr. Frist is an active member.

"One of the hallmarks of our denomination is that we are an ecumenical church," Mr. Kirkpatrick said in an interview on Thursday. He also said, "Elected officials should not be portraying public policies as being for or against people of faith."

By acusing the Democrats of being against people of faith, Frist and his ultra-right wing cronies in the Republican Party are showing the American just which party has a values problem. For Reverend Kirk to come out so forcefully against one of his parishioners is further proof that the Republicans have gone off of the deep end with their pandering to the far, far right (when a leader of the Presbyterian Church is concerned enough to speak out, it says something).