The straight comparison to your average bible-thumping US ultra-conservative this might invoke is the reason I "complained" a bit. The argument back then was pu

The straight comparison to your average bible-thumping US ultra-conservative this might invoke is the reason I "complained" a bit. The argument back then was purely on a "Think of the children!" basis, it's really not usual for German politics that a "But Jesus..." cry comes up. Also, the whole "Christian" component of the two parties (CDU/CSU) would be quite baffling and shocking to some bible belters, as we're talking about "Christian socialism" here, all based on a popular notion from the 19th century, backed by a Papal encyclical. Looking for a "third way" beyond conservatism or straight-forward socialism – which almost makes them by definition more "lefty" than e.g. the US Republicans… Think of it as "hyphen" ("christian-socialist") instead of comma ("christian, socialist"). Or as "neither" instead of "both" (I certainly wouldn't call Bavaria's CSU "socialist" – then again, as an American I might). This historical perspective curbed my annoyance about those dreadful "C" letters a bit. Well, this and the fact that even compared to some Christian moderates in the US, the hard-core Catholic loons here come out rather saintly…