O Christian Martyr Who for Truth could die
When all about thee Owned the hideous lie!
The world, redeemed from superstition ’s sway,
Is breathing freer for thy sake today.

Those are the words of John Greenleaf Whittier on the monument of one of the women of Salem, Rebecca Nurse, who went to the gallows in the summer of 1692 for being a witch. Now, more than 300 years later, our greatest pundits are pulling their chins over a long-ago television broadcast in which the Republican nominee for Senate from Delaware talks about a teenage escapade in which she went with a friend who dabbled in witchcraft and sat on what may have been a wiccan altar, though she wasn’t aware of it at the time for the lack of blood.

Only days ago the Democrats worked themselves into high a dudgeon over the fact that some Republicans were questioning whether President Obama was a Christian. Now the Democrats themselves — and some of the Republicans — are questioning whether the demure Republican nominee for senator from Delaware, Christine O’Donnell, is a Christian. It got so bad over the weekend that Miss O’Donnell retreated from the weekend national television talks shows. Back in Salem, they dealt with those who refused to submit to trial for witchcraft by pressing them between stones.

These days, we’d like to think, Delaware will go easier on Miss O’Donnell, at least in respect of what she did as a teenager. We were, for the record, similarly supportive of Presidential Candidate Obama, during the scandal over his preacher in Chicago. We are not interested in his or her religion. We’re interested in policy. In Delaware, Miss O’Donnell is the far stronger candidate in this regard. She was stronger than her Republican opponent in the primary, and she’s stronger than the Democratic opponent in the general election.