“God forbid a Democratic senator did go after this candidate on the grounds of her religious belief,” said Stephen Schneck, a national co-chair of Catholics for Biden. “I think it would create a huge backlash that would certainly hurt the Biden campaign.”…

John Gehring, Catholic program director at the liberal-leaning group Faith in Public Life, warned Democrats against making the sort of “unforced error” that Feinstein did.

To even attempt “to refute a charge of being anti-Catholic,” as Republicans have alleged, “is playing on their turf,” Gehring said. He urged Democrats to “stay laser-focused on the judicial issues and the real moral issues at stake.”