O, they will know we are Christians by our

use of foster kids for PR. (Apologies to Dan Savage for cribbing his series title.)

Yes, it seems our friends at Focus on the Family have decided Christians should answer the now accepted wisdom that they are pro-life only until the child breaches the labial curtains and enters this mortal coil. By adopting foster kids, or, if unwilling to do that, helping other foster families. So that people will stop calling them hypocrites.

Prominent evangelical Christians are urging churchgoers to strongly consider adoption or foster care, not just out of kindness or biblical calling but also to answer criticism that their movement, while condemning abortion and same-sex adoption, doesn't do enough for children without parents.

With backing from Focus on the Family and best-selling author Rick Warren, the effort to promote "orphan care" among the nation's estimated 65 million evangelicals could drastically reduce foster care rolls if successful.

Not motivated by Christian charity for the children they demand be conceived and born (let us not forget that these people oppose sex education and contraception), but motivated by self-interest: People aren't listening to us because they think we're hypocrites. Let's pretend not to be so they'll listen to us. It gets better:

Sharen Ford, a Colorado Division of Child Welfare Services manager, said some county workers initially presumed "church people beat their kids" or protested the initiative was exclusively Christian. Families, meanwhile, worried they couldn't take children to church or discipline them at all.

In Colorado and other states, the rules are firm on disciplining foster children, some of whom have been badly mistreated: no physical contact is allowed. Because corporal punishment is common among many evangelical parents, alternatives such as loss of privileges and "time outs" are urged, Ford said.

I'm not against corporal punishment, per se - at least in timely, limited ways. But I know what James Dobson says about corporal punishment, and that concerns me - he and his followers are fans of hitting the kids. I don't want kids landing in the homes of people who think James Dobson knows anything about raising children.

And, just to be all King 5 about it, there's a Seattle angle:

That controversy did not escape the notice of Tammie Snyder, executive director of Antioch Adoptions in Redmond, Wash., a Seattle suburb. The nonprofit, which grew out of Antioch Bible Church, recruits and trains parents for free and has placed 216 children since 2001 through a partnership with the state.

The agency will not work with gay and lesbian parents, and the state does not require it. But Snyder said she fears court decisions and laws granting gays and lesbians expanded rights might change that. As it is, Snyder said Antioch refers gay and lesbian parents to agencies that cater to them and have similar state partnerships.

Where will Ken Hutcherson pop his big, fat bigoted head up next?

But here's the rub:

Focus on the Family president Jim Daly wrote supporters that he hopes the orphan-care effort "will not only equip God's people to help meet the physical needs of orphans worldwide, but will ultimately introduce them to the eternal hope that is found in Jesus Christ."

Generally, foster children can be taken to places of worship unless parents who maintain legal rights say otherwise, but forcing religion on foster children is not allowed.

Well, of course they're going to force religion on them! That's what these people believe to be their one job on this earth - to force others to believe (or pretend to believe) what they believe (or pretend to believe, Ted Haggard, ya big homo). Corporal punishment, religious indoctrination, sexual retardation...the list of problems with Christians adopting children in large numbers just goes on and on. Look, there are people, Christian and not, who adopt kids because they feel it's right. That is exactly how it should be done, and I applaud each and every one of them!

But building programs to urge Christians to reach out to foster kids, and calling them orphans because...well, just because, apparently, is just a catastrophe waiting to happen. Like foster kids don't have enough problems in their lives, now James Dobson and his closeted-homo-infested flock is going to suggest that they be adopted by millions of families who don't actually want them, just so people will listen to their political nonsense about abortion. THAT'S TOO DEEPLY FUCKED UP.