This brings us neatly to the second problem — the Christian doctrine of a forgiving God. I don’t deny that if you suffered from severe child abuse, this might be an attractive doctrine, but do we call it conservative? I think not.

Leftists often complain that the Christian God sends people to Hell for all eternity. Never mind the justice of a system like this for some people (Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot), but moreover, if you believe that the Christian God is real, then you have to not only be horridly evil to go to Hell, but also incomprehensibly stupid. Consider the fact that the Christian God rarely, if ever, intervenes in this world, and leaves His vengeance for after death. In effect, this means that the Christian God is perfectly content to let violent criminals, sociopaths and thugs wander His creation for as long as a century before finally taking them off the streets. Not only that, but He’ll let them off the hook completely if they pledge allegiance to His son and occasionally tell Him they’re sorry for being so naughty (ask the Catholics about that one).

Imagine that Barack Obama gave automatic clemency to any criminal who claimed that he loved Sasha, and occasionally called her to tell her how sorry he was for being such a bad boy. What conservative outfit would think that was a fair justice system?