If the religious right isn't quite gone yet, messaging like this should only hasten its demise.

Monday, Tony Perkins at the Family Research Council sent out an email message blasting the PEPFAR (AIDS relief) bill. In a bizarre turn, it compliments the program's success against the epidemic, but then criticizes the Senate for expanding it. Who knew the notion of "too much of a good thing" would apply to life-saving AIDS treatment and prevention?

PEPFAR is a very popular program, and AIDS relief is a top priority for ideologically diverse people of faith. Former Bush adviser Michael Gerson has taken his fellow conservatives to task for holding up this critical funding.

While not a perfect program, PEPFAR has generally been successful, and the new bill hopes to build on this success, setting a treatment goal of 3 million people. For those 3 million individuals, PEPFAR can make a life-or-death difference.

What does PEPFAR mean for Tony Perkins?

Dollar signs, apparently. And cash register sounds.

From the subject line "Cha-Ching!" to the accompanying graphic (a bag of money with a map of Africa superimposed on it) FRC shows a tin ear and little regard for the compassion-motivated concerns of people of faith.

This year Perkins has made an energetic effort to prove his (and the Religious Right's more generally) engagement with compassion issues. He even went so far as to write a book with Bishop Harry with the stated goal to "expand the religious Right's influence into immigration policy, poverty and social justice, racial reconciliation, and global warming."

Does Perkins really believe that statements like

For some context on how enormous the [PEPFAR] entitlement is, consider this. Americans use about 384.7 million gallons of gas a day. With prices at $4 a gallon, $50 billion would give every U.S. driver about 32 days of free gas!

are compatible with that goal?

While it's tempting to tap into the (understandable) economic anxiety many Americans are feeling right now, "life-saving AIDS treatments are kinda pricey" falls flat as a moral message. Diverse people of faith agree that AIDS relief is one of the most pressing moral issues of our time, and using our worries about prices at the pump to discredit a program that saves millions of lives suggests a lack of commitment to this commendable cause.