It seems that the conservative orthodoxy is no longer a companion to or informed by religion but has now become a religion of it's own. And like all religions when one has a zealous view that one is "right", it leaves no room for any other possibility. So any contrary viewpoint is attack on that person's faith and core self that must be met with full fury. It doesn't help that many of the adherents to this made up church-of-the-way-we-imagine-it-always-was are gullible and not capable of critical thought - easily manipulated into the cult by those who see them as useful pawns.