So should the candidates come after Christian voters or not?

There are mixed messages in this WaPo piece on seeking the support of Christians who are left of…right.

With the Democratic presidential nomination in his grasp, Sen. Barack Obama is making a full-throttle push for centrist evangelicals and Catholics.

It’s a move that’s caught some conservative evangelicals off guard. They say they are surprised and dismayed to see a liberal-minded politician attempting to conscript their troops. At the same time, they say that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has done little to court their affections.

They’re going to be seeing a lot more of Obama coming after the Christian flocks.

Obama’s campaign is also launching a grass-roots effort, tentatively called Joshua Generation, with plans to hold concerts and house meetings targeted at young evangelicals and Catholics.

A political action committee set to launch this month, the Matthew 25 Network, plans to direct radio advertising and mailers to Christian communities while talking up Obama in the media. The group is not officially tied to the Obama campaign.

Obama’s emphasis on faith outreach plays to his strengths, campaign observers say. The senator is at ease speaking about religion and preaches a message of forging common ground with disparate communities.

But he’s not yet had to answer the tough questions about life issues at the core of the Christian beliefs about human rights. The message he preaches on the Gospel is only coherent if it’s grounded in that.