Telling Culture Warriors and Common Do-Gooders apart sounds easy, but can actually be really tricky. Luckily, you have Culture War Watch to interpret for you.

Whereas, We have no problem wasting tax dollars on pointless resolutions
On the face of it, a Congressional resolution commending Christmas seems rather harmless, festive, even. However, the resolution "Recognizing the Importance of Christmas and the Christian Faith" seems to be designed exclusively to put some more ammunition into the mythical "war on Christmas" Especially as its sponsor, Rep. Pete King, said that those who didn't support the resolution "voted 'no' on Christianity" (note to the sponsors: didn't you know that Bill O'Reilly single-handedly saved Christmas last year? you don't have to worry about this any more). This exaggeration of the power and malicious intents of your opponents, however, is the first step in spotting a Culture Warrior. You're likely to identify a Common Do-Gooder by their focus on the poor and vulnerable and the real meaning of the holiday (from any tradition). Meanwhile, actual wars are destroying actual lives, and taking down Christmas too.

Irony overload
So, we are considering renaming this series "Tony Perkins Watch" as the Family Research Council never seems to disappoint us in our search for new material. We should probably get over it already or go get some therapy, but we just can't seem to let his absurdity go without comment. This week he got in a one-two punch by gloating over how he helped defeat anti-hate crime legislation and then using the church shootings in Colorado to take a jab at the "secular media" for stirring up anti-Christian sentiment. Just so we're all clear, after twisting the truth to re-label hate crimes legislation "thought crimes," and claiming that it would be completely unjust to hold somebody who had preached against homosexuality accountable if one of their flock committed a violent act against a GLBT person (even though that's not what the bill was going to do in the first place), Mr. Perkins essentially makes the case that the Colorado Springs shootings were hate crimes against Christians and the "secular media" is responsible. Makes perfect sense, right?

An Inconvenient Statement

Pope Benedict is something of a culture war wild card, as those on both sides are likely to appropriate things he says to serve their own purposes. For instance, his remarks on prioritizing environmental stewardship and the poor over military spending will probably go down well with the Common Do-Gooders. But we have a feeling the Culture Warriors will find something to love in some of his other recent remarks about the family.
We smell a theme for the National Organization for Marriage's new ad campaign...

The Scorecard:
Sadly, looks like the Culture Warriors have this week. Common Do-Gooders better step up their game!