We don't know who set fire to Sarah Palin's church in Wasilla, Alaska. But is the apparent arson all that of a surprise, after the mainstream media so demonized her in the presidential campaign?

Likewise, the left and their compliant media are whipping up anger toward the Rev. Rick Warren, the good and gentle pastor of Saddleback Church, merely because his friend Barack Obama asked him to give an invocation at his inauguration in January.

Meanwhile, in California and elsewhere, militants opposed to that state's constitutional amendment defining marriage have been targeting churches and people who voted for it.

It's open season on conservatives and people of faith.

Perhaps it has been ever thus. But recriminations have been sharpened into saws these days.

Attacks on Palin and Warren are particularly misguided.

Certainly one is free to disagree with Palin's politics. But the media whipped some voters into a frenzy over her. Surveys of Obama voters, for example, showed quite clearly that voters had been brainwashed into believing the worst about her -- that errant quotes, for instance, were made by her when, in fact, some came from Obama himself.

Attacks on Warren are especially pointless and off the mark. Anyone who has seen him work or read his book A Purpose-Driven Life , can tell he's a man of great faith and love for all people. Obama knows this, and wants him to be a part of the inauguration.

But militants on the left, including U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, have done nothing but demonize Pastor Warren. In Frank's world, someone who has offended him -- even with their faith -- shouldn't be allowed a seat at the table.

How does the Rev. Warren react to the bile? Like a Christian. "You don't have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand," he says.

It's time to stop demonizing those with whom we disagree. As the man says, we don't have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand.

"During the course of the entire inaugural festivities, there are going to be a wide range of viewpoints that are presented," Obama says. "And that's how it should be, because that's what America's about. That's part of the magic of this country ... we are diverse and noisy and opinionated."

True. But if we listen to each other more, we just might learn something.