Break out the pitchforks and light the torches!  The leftist media is in the midst of launching a modern day version of the Salem Witch Trials.  Except this time the target isn't those who blaspheme against the Christian religion, but rather those who practice it.  The inquisition began almost two weeks ago when Diane Sawyer and her ABC World News Tonight team christened a very provocative and alarming "investigation" into the beliefs of Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann and her husband, Dr. Marcus Bachmann.

Leading the charge was correspondent Brian Ross, who ominously set the stage: "Operating out of suburban Minneapolis, Dr. Bachmann runs a Christian counseling firm, co-owned with his wife, that at times, according to former patients, has tried to convert gay men into heterosexuals through prayer."  ABC then dug up a disgruntled former patient who confirmed this shocking news by whining, "His path for my therapy would be to read the Bible, and pray to God that I would no longer be gay."

Later that same week, former Clinton aide-turned-CNN contributor Paul Begala appeared on Anderson Cooper's program to crank the hysteria up a notch, demanding, "She should be asked about this theory.  She's a candidate for president.  One out of 10 Americans is gay.  She should be asked if she wants to lead a country where at least 10 percent of us are gay or lesbian, does she believe in this crackpot, bigoted theory that somehow there's something to be repaired in our brothers and sisters and sons and daughters who happen to be born gay?"  Begala may not be much of a political mind, but he's got the demagoguery thing down pat.

Besides the junk research that hacks like Begala use to advance their cause (the outrageous 10 percent number has been debunked for decades), there are three important observations for reasoned minds to take from this media-generated scandal.  First, the hypocrisy. 

Remember, this is the same media that found no interest in investigating the friendly relationship between Barack Obama and domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, the man who apparently ghost-wrote his bestselling "autobiography," Dreams from My Father.  And for a group seemingly so interested in Bachmann's religious views, these same media sources found the fact that Obama sat in the church pew of a racist, anti-American radical named Jeremiah Wright totally irrelevant.

Along with the hypocrisy comes the blatant inconsistency.  Irreligious, or at least humanistic, liberals are always quick to point to the constitutional ban on "religious tests" for federal office when they are touting one of their godless candidates.  While butchering the context within which this Article VI prohibition was written, liberals tell everyone who will listen that a person's religious beliefs (or unbelief) are immaterial in considering their qualifications.  But then why does Chris Matthews want Republican candidates grilled over whether they believe in a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation account?  And why does ABC tout the work of a left-wing group "investigating" the Bachmann family's religious views on homosexuality?  Apparently the left believes in selective application of the ban.

Finally, and most importantly, the hate and discrimination these liberal media types are stoking by their actions cannot be excused or overlooked.  ABC's investigation implies that there is something scandalous about a Christian clinic that seeks to use prayer and Biblical teaching to turn a person away from what the Bible calls sin.  Um...is ABC seriously unaware that this is what Christians do?  The real scandal would be if a supposed Christian clinic like Bachmann's didn't offer this kind of hope for those with unwanted same-sex attraction.

Remember that in 1 Corinthians, God's Word instructs, "Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And that is what some of you were.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."  Notice the operative phrase there: "that is what some of you were."  In other words, change from sexual immorality, including homosexuality, is possible through Jesus.  Thus, when CNN's Begala makes the barefaced accusation that such a belief is "bigoted," we should be sure to understand that he is demonizing not just Bachmann, but 2,000 years of Christian doctrine, and the inspired text of God Himself.  Now, who is the crackpot, Paul?

And don't miss the hostile discrimination this anti-Christian liberal mindset demonstrates against those who have benefited from such redemptive therapy...those who are ex-gay.  One such man, Greg Quinlan, recently addressed this media hate by writing, "The ex-gay community includes thousands of former homosexuals like myself who benefited from counseling.  We did not choose our homosexual feelings, but we did exercise our right to seek help to change those feelings.  As a registered nurse, I saw hundreds of gay men die of AIDS before I finally left the gay lifestyle."

But if the Christophobic bigots at ABC and CNN have their way, men like Quinlan will have a harder time making that change as the loving Christian leaders of such redemptive clinics are burned at the stake by the modern prophets of "tolerance."

Peter is a public high school government teacher and radio talk show host in central Indiana. Email peter@peterheck.com, visit www.peterheck.com, or like him on Facebook.