On the very eve of the 2004 Republican National Convention, former President Bill Clinton took to the pulpit of one of New York's most famous churches. Aiming his sights at George W. Bush and Christian conservatives, he delivered a message designed to mobilize religious liberals.

Speaking from the pulpit of The Riverside Church in New York City, Clinton addressed one of America's most liberal congregations. The church, founded in 1927, meets in a great Gothic structure built by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. From its founding, the church has been a beacon for theological liberalism in the United States. Its founding pastor was Harry Emerson Fosdick, the most famous liberal preacher of the early twentieth century. Fosdick, a Baptist, had formerly served as preaching minister at New York's First Presbyterian Church, but he was later forced out after controversy arose when Fosdick denied basic Christian doctrines from the pulpit. Along with Rockefeller, Fosdick founded The Riverside Church as a bastion of progressivist thought mixed with theological and political liberalism. Addressing the 1,500 worshippers gathered at the church this past Sunday, Bill Clinton was right at home.

The former president was introduced by The Riverside Church's current pastor, Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr. Forbes told the congregation, "What some among us have forgotten is what a profound force that faith has been for progress and social justice." Mr. Clinton picked up on this theme in his initial comments: "I want to say what I think the sermon means. It means that politics and political involvement dictated by faith is not the exclusive province of the right wing in America."

Clinton's appearance at the church was part of the launch of "Mobilization 2004," a campaign led by Forbes and other liberal religious leaders intended to organize the "Religious Left" politically in order to counter the influence of the so-called "Religious Right." Timed to coincide with the 2004 Republican National Convention, the Mobilization 2004 campaign is to include rallies, voter registration efforts, and networking among liberal congregations and religious institutions.

Clinton called for liberal Christians to tie their votes to values. He accused conservative Christians of claiming "the exclusive allegiance of America's real Christians." Pointing to the Southern Baptist Convention, Mr. Clinton reflected: "I looked at the recent meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention where the president went and one of their leaders was wearing a button he was giving to everybody else that said, 'I am a values voter,' implying that those of us that didn't agree with them didn't have any values."

Not that he would be troubled by the facts, but Mr. Clinton got that story almost right. President George W. Bush did not attend the Southern Baptist Convention, though he did deliver an address by video. The SBC's public policy organization, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, is sponsoring a voter education effort known as "I Vote Values." Of course, conservative Christians do not believe that liberals are without values. The fault line of disagreement is over what those values should be and how the Christian faith--and most especially, the Bible--should form and establish those values.