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A recent study found liberals were more likely to fib about attending servicesshowing there's still a greater stigma against atheism than belief.

Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Last week, the Public Religion Research Institute published a study showing that Americans want their fellow citizens to think they are more religiously observant than they really are. When asked by a live human being on the telephone how often they attend religious services, respondents were more likely to say they attend frequently. When filling out a self-administered online survey, by contrast, they were more likely to admit that they do not.

Surprising? Not terribly. But this may be: Liberals were more likely to exaggerate their religious attendance than conservatives. Liberals attend services less frequently than conservatives do. Yet their desire to be thought more religiously observant than they actually are is greater.

Americans Voters Moonlight as Existential Philosophers

Why does this matter? Because its more evidence that the claim that liberals are waging a war on religion is absurd. You can hardly listen to a GOP presidential hopeful or flip on Fox News without hearing the charge. In 2012, Rick Perry promised that if elected hed end Obamas war on religion. Bobby Jindal recently warned that the American people, whether they know it or not, are mired in a silent war against a group of like-minded [liberal] elites, determined to transform the country from a land sustained by faith into a land where faith is silenced, privatized, and circumscribed. Ann Coulter explains, Liberals hate religion because politics is a religion substitute for liberals and they cant stand the competition.

Notice the claim. Its not merely that liberals are not religious themselves. Its that they disdain people who are, and this disdain creates a cultural stigma (and a legal barrier) to religious observance. Bigotry against evangelical Christians is the last acceptable form of bigotry in the country, Ralph Reed said recently.

The truth is almost exactly the reverse. Over the past few decades, liberals havefar more than conservativesturned away from religious affiliation, though not necessarily belief in God. But while they may feel proud of their views on religion-informed issues like evolution and gay marriage, theyre not particularly proud of their lack of religious observance per se. Indeed, theyre aware that theyre violating a cherished social norm. Asking liberals to admit that they are disproportionately secular is like asking conservatives to admit that they are disproportionately white. Its a truth they find embarrassing. Liberals love left-leaning religious figures like Sister Simone Campbell, the immigrant-rights-championing nun who addressed the 2012 Democratic National Convention, for the same reason conservatives love right-wing African Americans like Herman Cain and Dr. Ben Carson: They defy a negative stereotype.

After all, if liberals really stigmatized the religious, wouldnt some of them have objected when John Kerry flaunted his Catholicism in 2004 or Barack Obama flaunted his adult embrace of Christianity in 2008? Is there a single example, even in the most liberal city or district, of one Democratic candidate trying to outdo the other by proclaiming herself more hostile to religious belief?

I doubt it, because most secular liberals understandeven if Fox News commentators dontthat Americas last acceptable religious prejudice isnt against evangelical Christians. Its against atheists. According to a 2008 poll, more than two-thirds of American atheists said they feared the repercussions in their community if they openly declared their belief that there is no god.

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The Myth of a 'War on Religion'

QUEBEC CITY There was a nervousness in the air as MNAs faced off in the very first Question Period since the April elections.

Premier Philippe Couillard fielded some tough questions on the economy, but the biggest blow came with the news that yet another Liberal is being called to testify at the Charbonneau Commission.

WATCH: Are Quebec Liberals in trouble?

The Premier is an experienced politician, but the magnitude of the change Quebecers voted for on April 7 has only just started to sink in.

READ MORE: Liberals sworn-in amidst allegations of illegal party financing

That didnt stop Couillard from cracking a few jokes though saying he was glad he would now get to see the right side of the Speakers face.

I hope that goes on for another four and a half years, laughed Jacques Chagnon, Speaker of the National Assembly and MNA of WestmountSaint-Louis.

WATCH: Quebec Liberals backtrack on daycare cuts

Chagnon says he hopes good relations between the parties will last but that didnt stop the Parti Qubcois from launching its first attack.

The Premier is leading the province toward a credit rating downgrade, said Stephane Bedard, the PQs interim leader.

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Liberals address tough topics in first Question Period

The Canberra Liberals are calling on the ACT Government to abandon its plan to build light rail in the wake of federal budget cuts.

Chief Minister Katy Gallagher expects the budget will slash $240 million in health funding from the ACT over the next four years.

Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson disagrees with those figures but admits Canberra is in for some lean fiscal times.

He says plans to build a $614 million light rail network between Gungahlin and Civic should be dumped.

"Now is not the time to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a tram track between the city and Gungahlin that we simply cannot afford, that this city does not need and for the vast bulk of Canberrans are going to miss out on," he said.

"Ultimately they still don't know how they're going to pay for this, and they still can't tell us how much it will cost to operate."

Mr Hanson says light rail is not a great way to create employment and Ms Gallagher needs to rethink her priorities.

"The case has not been made for light rail and I will be putting our nurses, teachers, children and surgery patients as my number one priority and Katy Gallagher should do the same," he said.

"Any cuts to health or education that she imposes on Canberrans while concurrently spending hundreds of millions of dollars on light rail would be a failure in her duty to the people of Canberra."

But Ms Gallagher says the project will create jobs and boost economic activity at a time when it is most needed.

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Canberra Liberals call for light rail plans to be dumped in wake of budget cuts

The Liberals appear to be benefitting from a low-key NDP campaign and voter concerns about a Progressive Conservative plan to cut 100,000 public service jobs, according to a new poll.

In the latest Forum Research survey, Kathleen Wynnes Liberals lead with 41 per cent to 34 per cent for Tim Hudaks Conservatives, and 20 per cent for Andrea Horwaths New Democrats. The Greens, led by Mike Schreiner, have 4 per cent.

Forum president Lorne Bozinoff said challenges lay ahead for the Tories and the NDP in the lead up to the June 12 election.

The NDP . . . campaign has just been slow to launch. There is a bit of a price to pay . . . for not announcing their platform yet, Bozinoff said Wednesday.

In Toronto, for example, where the NDP holds five seats, support has dipped to 14 per cent. That compares with 51 per cent for the Liberals, who have 17 city seats, and 33 per cent for the Tories, who have one.

Compounding the New Democrats dilemma is a left-leaning Liberal Party that appeals to traditional progressive voters and a right-wing PC platform that could lead to anti-Hudak strategic voting, the pollster said.

With the Tories . . . they havent, for some people, explained the 100,000 jobs and the million jobs, he said, referring to the 100,000 jobs Hudak plans to eliminate from the broader public sector over four years in order to create 1 million private-sector jobs in eight years.

Thats 100,000 people and they all have spouses and they all have parents and they all have friends so it takes time for this to percolate through.

In last weeks poll, 62 per cent disapproved of the proposed cuts while 26 per cent approved and 11 per cent werent sure. Similarly, 63 per cent doubted 1 million jobs could be generated while 26 per cent believe they would and 11 per cent didnt know.

Using interactive voice-response phone calls, Forum surveyed 1,136 people across Ontario on Tuesday and results are considered accurate to within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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Poll: Tory cuts and low-key NDP campaign helping Liberals

Watch video above: Jackson Proskow looks at the claims made in the latest round of campaign ads and explains why ads are important to a campaign.

TORONTO The Liberals, Progressive Conservatives and NDP marked the end of a two-week blackout on election advertising yes, its only been two weeks. Just four more to go! by releasing their own ads.

The NDP attacked the Liberals; the Liberals attacked the Tories; the Tories, who spent the last three years criticizing the Liberals, focused on their jobs plan.

But the statements made in each ad, despite their tone, may not be entirely true.

The Liberals

Tim Hudak wants to make classrooms more crowded, cut teachers and health care and somehow make our economy grow by firing 100,000 people.

Wynne spends most of her 30-second television ad spouting vague statements about their plan; creating jobs, investing in transit, creating fair pensions.

She takes a shot at Hudak though, claiming he will fire 100,000 people. But thats not entirely accurate.

Tim Hudak does plan to reduce the government payroll by 100,000. But he wont be handing out 100,000 pink slips. Instead he hopes to use attrition: when employees retire, many of these positions will not be filled.

We still dont know how many people will be fired outright and how many positions will be left vacant, or where Hudak will find these vacancies if not from health-care workers or the police, as he has promised. His team says it will include municipal workers as well as those on the provinces payroll.

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Reality check: Dissecting the claims of campaign ads