It's both .. they don't get it and they don't care
Regretably it is not "odd" in the sense that it is uncommon. In fact it is all too common, witness the fate of GODS AND GENERALS.
It is a phenomenom which surfaces all too often when the left speaks. I attended a lecture in Germany by a visiting professor from Innsbruck who implied that George Bush was some how too simplistic because he believed in God. European intelligensia are often trying to explain otherwise unfathamable American policy with this condenscion.