He just wants them to vote, that's all...

President Bush yesterday addressed the Southern Baptist Convention via live video link to encourage the group to engage in voter registration efforts. The President's campaign separately urged church leaders to do everything short of endorse Bush within their congregations, careful to skirt around any implication that they are encouraging churches to violate the terms of their tax-exempt status, knowing that they really don't have to; an extremely strong majority of those registered through church drives will vote Bush.

It's an easy leap to criticize Mr. Bush for what some view as a blurring of the lines, but unlike proposed changes by Republicans on the Hill (from the DArchives), the Bush Campaign's actions aren't a violation of the law, they're just fuzzy.

But even folks within the church are concerned; the NYT quotes Daniel Vestal, coordinator of the dissident Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, as saying "the Southern Baptist Convention has become aligned with the secular political agenda of one particular part of one party, and that is tragic."

This sort of dissent sounds awfully familiar. Republicans have long worked for paycheck protection to ensure that conservative union members weren't forced to donate to liberal candidates -- perhaps the push to loosen religious exemption laws will give birth to "offering plate protection?"