A few months back, a group called Better Courts Now was formed on the idea that if the state of California just elected that proper sorts of Christian judges on the bench, then controversial issues like Proposition 8 would never even arise. To make that happen, the group backed a slate of candidates with an openly Christian bias who were committed to carrying out God’s will from the bench … and promptly saw each one of them get trounced in yesterday’s election:

Four incumbent judges were headed to easy victories over a slate of challengers who were backed by a group of religious and social conservatives … Judge Lantz Lewis was well ahead of challenger Craig Candelore in early unofficial results, and his colleague Judge DeAnn Salcido was leading challenger Harold Coleman. Judge Joel Wohlfeil was well ahead of Larry “Jake” Kincaid, and Judge Robert Longstreth was handily beating Bill Trask.

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The four challengers ran as a slate backed by Better Courts Now, a group formed by pastors and supported by foes of same-sex marriage and abortion rights. It said it wanted to unify the “moral vote” and promote judges who would reflect their values.

Each of the victorious judges got more than 60 percent of the vote in his or her race, and several saw that wide margin as a rejection of the Better Courts Now effort to influence the makeup of the bench.