I’m just going to go ahead and say this: Focus on the Family is not a Christian organization.

I don’t say this lightly. I’m one of those Christians willing to tolerate a pretty big tent. If you want to call yourself a Christian–and you’re at least vaguely trying–great. There’s room for people of faith to disagree. But .. there’s not quite enough room for Focus on the Family. Not in my tent. Not anymore.

Driving through rural Ohio sometimes means some … limited radio options. In practice, this means I’ll occasionally listen to Christian Talk radio. It ranges from goofy to challenging to boring to vaguely disturbing. But today’s selection was beyond the pale.

The broadcast featured a compelling witness by a Holocaust survivor that concluded with an appeal to ensure that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten. I think that sort of thing is important to put on the radio. But the commentary afterward was entirely unacceptable.

The Focus on the Family folks proceeded to discuss that the Holocaust is what happens when the church becomes marginalized, when the government rescues the economy, and when the government educates children. “Hitler,” the man explained, “was a brilliant politician.” Nobody explicitly said that Obama is literally Hitler … but the nudging and winking was pretty obvious. The broadcast then urged Christians to be politically active.

So here’s the deal. I’m a Christian. I’m politically active. And I’m seriously pissed at Focus on the Family.

It’s not just that their history is bad. Hitler didn’t marginalize the church. He appropriated it. The Deutsche Christen attempted to synthesize Christianity with Hitler’s hateful ideals. The church allowed itself to be appropriated by a hateful and nationalistic political movement. A lot of people calling themselves Christians also called themselves Nazis. The Church was tested. Much of it failed.

It’s also not just Focus on the Family’s willingness to exploit the most graphic elements of the Holocaust for political gain. This isn’t just drawing a Hitler moustache on your political opponent’s picture. This was a graphic description of the attrocities of the concentration camps followed by the serious and deliberate implication that if we don’t vote for Republicans the same thing could happen to us.

The part that really gets to me is that they’re doing it all in the name of Christianity. They are exploiting (and tarnishing) the church. They are attempting to make everything I stand for into something ugly. That’s the part I take personally.