Over at the Awl, Abe Sauer has continued to drill into the Target story, and now he turns his focus to Target Corp CEO Gregg Steinhafel’s personal life. He’s found some circumstantial, but quite suggestive, evidence that Steinhafel, his family, and key members of Target’s senior management are long-time members of the Christian religious right. Sauer suggests that this constitutes the driving force behind Target’s donations to MN Forward, and Target’s resistance to making any kind of restitution for its donations.

Yet, anyone who had ever had an intense fight with a spouse or lover knew the “I’m sorry it made you feel that way” nopology when they heard it.

Sauer cites four main pieces of evidence: Steinhafel’s membership in a conservative West Metro church that he shares with anti-gay former Congressman Jim Ramstad; Steinhafel’s daughter’s decision to attend the super-Christian and anti-gay Wheaton College; Steinhafel’s fondness for inspirational speakers who look to Jesus for management skills consulting; and the anti-gay political sympathies and careers of the two other Target execs responsible for vetting the company’s political donations.

Steinhafel has consistently claimed the MN Forward donation was motivated solely by business interests – the promise of future tax breaks – but his reluctance to be interviewed for The Awl’s story does nothing to dispel many people’s suspicions of his ulterior motives.