Playing the religion card

UPDATE: CNN is running the the email story and has more of the innuendo-laced text:

Bowers provided links to two articles about Haley's religious background, and noted: "There seems to be something strange going on here."

"Haley can't seem to make up her mind about her faith," wrote Bowers, who is Barrett's Pickens County campaign chairman.

One of the articles he linked to – a piece from the Christian Broadcasting Network – examined why Haley has appeared to downplay her Sikh heritage in the governor's race.

"Haley can't seem to make up her mind about her faith," Bowers wrote. "There are lots of contradictions to her story. It's not my place to question her faith, but I do question her honesty. If anyone finds the truth, please let me know."

He concluded: "Again, I'm not questioning her faith, but I absolutely can't stand a liar."

The Barrett campaign, which earlier this week circulated a CNN article about Haley's faith, denied having anything to do with the email.

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Alex Pappas at The Daily Caller's breaking a story that Gresham Barrett's campaign co-chair put out an email today questioning whether Nikki Haley is a Christian. Pappas reports some think it'll get worse this last weekend  before Tuesday's runoff:

Phillip Bowers, co-chairman of Barrett’s campaign, circulated an e-mail Friday afternoon suggesting Haley has lied about her religion. “There are lots of contradictions to her story. It’s not my place to question her faith, but I do question her honesty. If anyone finds the truth, please let me know,” said Bowers, in an email obtained by The Daily Caller.

The campaign denied being behind the email in a statement to Politico. But Barrett’s campaign has made his Christian faith a cornerstone of their strategy over the last several days.

...The Republican [source for Pappas' article], who claims not to have a dog in the primary fight, said voters shouldn’t be surprised if a bombshell story regarding Haley’s faith was dropped this weekend, where it could level the most damage before Tuesday’s run-off. Warren Thompkins, a consultant to Barrett’s campaign, it turns out, has a history of using religion to appeal to conservative voters, according to the Republican.

A 2007 article in Harpers Magazine gives Tompkins credit for George W. Bush’s victory over John McCain in the 2000 South Carolina primary, notorious for its untrue rumors that the Arizona senator had fathered an illegitimate black child. One of Tompkins’s primary jobs, the article noted, was to mobilize the religious right for Bush. “The first thing we had to do was build a wall between McCain and the social conservatives,” Tompkins was quoted saying in the article. “If we didn’t do that, we were dead.”