John Gehring of Faith in Public Life. CNA

I’m sure the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops anticipated a backlash over their efforts to fight President Obama’s anti-Catholic policies like the

HHS mandate

, but I don’t think they anticipated the backlash to come from other Christians.

Catholic News Agency (CNA) is reporting that a secret email by John Gehring, Catholic program director for the liberal Faith in Public Life group, reveals an effort to undercut the “Fortnight for Freedom” campaign:

Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, released the e-mail detailing the campaign on June 18. He said a copy of the e-mail had been leaked to him.

Donohue said “fair minded persons” may disagree with the religious freedom effort “but there is something unseemly going on when those who work for a George-Soros-funded group are quietly providing talking points to the media.”

FYI:

George Soros

is a

campaign donor

to Barack Obama.

CNA went on to report that the email encouraged the press:

to “ask critical questions” about the bishops’ “sweeping claims” in light of a “charged political backdrop” ahead of the 2012 election. It noted that both the June 8 “Stand Up for Religious Freedom” rallies and the June 21 – July 4 “Fortnight for Freedom” campaign include Catholic dioceses.

Gehring also wrote that the “war on religion” is a “fiction” made up by the bishops.