Article: Liberals dismayed at losing debate on 'moral values'; Advocates want to expand the dialogue beyond abortion and civil unions

NEW YORK (AP) - Family values, traditional values and now, "moral values." Most American adults would say they have them, and yet that two-word phrase is the focus of an ideological tug-of-war heightened by President Bush's re-election, with conservatives declaring principal ownership and liberals scrambling to challenge them.

"We need to work really hard at reclaiming some language," said the Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the liberal-leaning National Council of Churches.

"The religious right has successfully gotten out there shaping personal piety issues - civil unions, abortion - as almost the total content of 'moral values,'" Edgar said. "And yet you can't read the Old Testament ...

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