[kyllo]

Yeah, at a certain point you cross over from configuration into scripting. Emacs Lisp is definitely in the scripting zone, on purpose.

Yes, Apache has a crazy amount of configuration in httpd.conf, and supports conditionals and scopes, to the point where they had to write a syntax checker for it. I would actually consider httpd.conf a good example of the "softcoding" anti-pattern.

A certain amount of configuration is good, and deliberately providing a scripting DSL language for your program is also good if appropriate.

But when you inadvertently cross over from normal configuration into absurdly complex configuration that resembles a crappy scripting language, giving you the feeling that you're in this big grey area between code and config, that's an anti-pattern.