Hope springing eternal, Dan Nejfelt over at Bold Faith Type calls attention to some mild criticism of the Tea Party movement (for racist jibes at members of Congress) from Rev. Harry Jackson and a tougher rebuke (for mindless anti-government populism) from Chuck Colson–as indicative of a certain ambivalence towards the movement on the part of the religious right. Well, maybe.

As Nejfelt points out, both men are associated with the Manhattan Declaration (Colson helped write it). That manifesto of contemporary religious rightism announces the signers’ intention to refuse to obey such laws relating to abortion, gay rights, and religious liberty as they consider unjust. Not to put too fine a point on it, but when you’ve issued a call to resist the government, you shouldn’t be surprised when others act accordingly.