IMAGINE a Republican congressman defending traditional marriage by saying, "I am inspired in my public service by St. Paul's admonition against sodomy in his first letter to the Corinthians." Surely, many liberals would raise the alarm of impending theocracy. But House minority leader Nancy Pelosi--a self-described "conservative Catholic" despite her status as a pro-gay marriage, pro-choice San Francisco lefty who as a young girl thought she would rather be a priest than a nun--has lately been encouraging members of her party to couch their political arguments in Biblical terms so as to appeal to the God-fearing.

In a St. Patrick's Day speech on the genocide in Darfur, a topic that unites religious conservatives and liberals, Pelosi said, "The gospel of Matthew is something that drives many of us in our public service." In September of last year, she gave a speech in favor of strengthening the Endangered Species Act, in which she said, "In Isaiah in the Old Testament, we are told that to minister to the needs of God's creation--and that includes our beautiful environment--is an act of worship." And Pelosi, who could be speaker of the House next January, was one of 55 Catholic Democrats in the chamber who signed a "Statement of Principles" in which they expressed union with the "living Catholic tradition." In the statement, released in February through the office of Connecticut's Rosa DeLauro, the signers admit the "undesirability of abortion," without actually committing to changing their party's pro-choice agenda.

Marco Grimaldi, head of the Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative at the liberal Center for American Progress, suggests that this new tic is less a strategic move and more an act of frustration with the perception that Democrats are opposed to religion. "There is a great deal of conversation around a handful of moral issues. I think people who see things differently are really frustrated," he said.

This statement of frustration seems to be an outgrowth of the "Faith Working Group," an effort to coordinate discourse between House Democrats and churchgoers that Pelosi initiated just over a year ago, when the "values voters" of 2004 were still the subjects of liberal nightmares. She chose as the group's chairman Rep. Jim Clyburn, an African Methodist Episcopalian from South Carolina's 6th district, whom she has subsequently selected to serve as chairman of the House Democratic caucus as well. That promotion suggests the importance Pelosi places upon political fellowship with the faithful. The Faith Working Group looks mostly like a behind-the-scenes endeavor, but the "faith page" of the caucus' website provides a glimpse into its undertakings. There, one finds a press release announcing the group's meeting with the president of the U.S. Catholic bishops' conference, a link to Rep. Sherrod Brown's speech on "Faith, Holy Writ and Social Justice," an October statement from the presiding Episcopal bishop calling the Republican budget proposal "tantamount to blasphemy," and, of course, the Catholic "Statement of Principles."

IN AN EARLIER DAY, American Catholics in public life sought to distance themselves from Rome. Now Catholic Democrats wish to appear as though they agree with the church even when they do not. Attempting to avoid having to reconcile this tension with the Church on abortion (and other matters), they express a desire to "speak to the fundamental issues that unite us as Catholics." Citing the "primacy of conscience," but ignoring the Church's view that a good conscience is one in accord with the Church. Instead, they have created their own version of the "fundamental issues" that unite Catholics, excluding the topics on which they dissent.