CONSIDER THIS FIRST
"So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Rev 3:16
Christ 'the lamb' is speaking against lukewarm FAITH. 'Moderate' does not mean 'lukewarm'. Moderate Christians can be rich in faith and as passionate as any among us. But, perhaps, they recognize that being issue-centered is not as important as being Christ-centered.
"Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to call God "Father" and to share in Christ's grace, called children of light and given a share in eternal glory."
A Christian moderate is not moderately Christian.
AND THEN CONSIDER THIS
"It is important for those of us who are sometimes called moderates to make the case that we, too, have strongly held Christian convictions, that we speak from the depths of our beliefs, and that our approach to politics is at least as faithful as that of those who are more conservative. Our difference concerns the extent to which government should, or even can, translate religious beliefs into the laws of the state.
Moderate Christians are less certain about when and how our beliefs can be translated into statutory form, not because of a lack of faith in God but because of a healthy acknowledgment of the limitations of human beings. Like conservative Christians, we attend church, read the Bible and say our prayers."
New York Times, June 2005
John C. Danforth
Ordained Episcopalian Minister & Former Republican Senator, Attorney General (Missouri) & U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations