Sometimes, Nick Kristof turns in some damn fine work.

No, really. Read these three short grafs, then get ready for something special:

The old religious right led by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, trying to battle Satan with school prayers and right-to-life amendments, is on the ropes. It is being succeeded by evangelicals who are using their growing clout to skewer China and North Korea, to support Israel, to fight sexual trafficking in Eastern Europe and slavery in Sudan, and, increasingly, to battle AIDS in Africa.

Evangelicals are usually regarded by snooty, college-educated bicoastal elitists (not that any read this newspaper) as dangerous Neanderthals. But while the old religious right was destructive when it launched the cultural wars, the new internationalists are saving lives in some of the most forgotten parts of the world.

"The American electorate was split right down the middle on these cultural wars, and nobody was going to win them," said Richard Cizik, Washington director of the National Association of Evangelicals, explaining the shift to international issues. The new international efforts, he says, are "going gangbusters."

That’s the heart of the column, and he makes points I’d expect to hear from George Will or (shudder) Cal Thomas. Today’s Evangelicals are a different breed from the bunch that helped elect Carter in ’76 and Reagan in ’80 and ’84. And for the most part, they’re a hell of a lot more tolerable, too.

And now I’m finally going to lay down the VodkaPundit Line on religion.

If you’re religious, you might have noticed that god and all his/her various prophets don’t get much (if any) airtime on my show. I regard organized religion in much the same way a turtle regards a doghouse – I’m pretty well covered, thank you, so let’s just keep ignoring each other.

Who am I kidding? That goes for unorganized, disorganized, and semi-pro religion, too.

Want to see my eyes glaze over? Use the word “apostle.” Want to get my hackles up? Say you want to save my soul. My soul, my business, and I’ve been known to shoot at trespassers. But enjoy your lovely Sunday, Saturday, or Friday at church/temple/snake pit/whatever. I’ll be shopping.

If the whole Christian theology is correct, then I’m certain those cretins with “In Case Of Rapture This Car Will Be Unmanned” bumper stickers are going straight to hell come the Trump and the Shout. Sin of pride and all that. I’m less certain, although it pleases me to think, that those with the stickers saying “In Case Of Rapture, Can I Have Your Car?” will get to spend some quality time with St. Pete in the Head Office, swapping jokes about Jehovah’s Witnesses and sipping some results of Jesus’ first miracle.

Islam is a young religion, still angry and bitter that they aren’t as cool as college drop-outs as they were in their high school glory days. Jews have a long and sad history, but one that has taught them how to play well with others. Catholics are lucky enough, thanks to Aquinas, to have much of the same rigorous intellectual tradition as Judaism. Before that, there wasn’t much to recommend the Church, and it still faces serious issues today. I can’t keep track of all the Protestant denominations, so I try not to prejudge anyone based on their church – but I know my social betters, equals, and lessers when I meet them. . .

. . .So back off if you don’t have manners enough to keep your silly beliefs as quiet as I keep my silly beliefs.