When you hear Rick Santorum and other Conservatives complaining about how the Obama Administration is the biggest threat to religious freedom since the invention of cheese fries, you can rest assured of at least one thing. Despite all the bleating to the contrary, Conservative use of and for Christianity extends only insofar as they’re convinced it will aid their quest/lust for political power.
When Conservatives whine about the decline of “liberty” and/or “religious freedom”, it’s code for their belief that they have the absolute right to force their religion on Americans who happen not to think, live, or believe as they do. “Religious freedom” means that everyone is free to believe as Social Conservatives like Little Ricky do…and they don’t intend for that to be optional.
After the jump, you’ll see how selective Social Conservatives like Santorum really are when it comes to devotion to their faith. The hypocrisy is almost palpable.
Pope John Paul II was against anyone going to war against Iraq I think you’ll find that Rick Santorum managed to ignore that Catholic teaching.
The Conference of Catholic Bishops requires that health care be provided to all Americans. I.e., Rick Santorum’s opposition to universal health care is a betrayal of the Catholic faith he is always trumpeting.
The Catholic Church opposes the death penalty for criminals in almost all situations. (Santorum largely supports executions.)
The US Conference of Bishops has urged that the federal minimum wage be increased, for the working poor. Santorum in the Senate repeatedly voted against the minimum wage.
The bishops want welfare for all needy families, saying “We reiterate our call for a minimum national welfare benefit that will permit children and their parents to live in dignity. A decent society will not balance its budget on the backs of poor children.” Santorum is a critic of welfare.
The US bishops say that “the basic rights of workers must be respected-the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to the organization and joining of unions…”. Santorum, who used to be supportive of unions in the 1990s, has now, predictably, turned against them.
Catholic bishops demand the withdrawal of Israel from Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. Rick Santorum denies that there are any Palestinians, so I guess he doesn’t agree with the bishops on that one.
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops ripped into Arizona’s law on treatment of immigrants, Cardinal Roger Mahony characterized Arizona’s S.B. 1070 as “the country’s most retrogressive, mean-spirited, and useless anti-immigrant law,” saying it is based on “totally flawed reasoning: that immigrants come to our country to rob, plunder, and consume public resources.” He even suggested that the law is a harbinger of an American Nazism! Santorum attacks ‘anchor babies’ or the provision of any services to children of illegal immigrants born and brought up in the US.
The Bishops have urged that illegal immigrants not be treated as criminals and that their contribution to this country be recognized.
The US Conference of Bishops has denounced, as has the Pope, the Bush idea of ‘preventive war’, and has come out against an attack on Iran in the absence of a real and present threat of an Iranian assault on the US. In contrast, Santorum wants to play Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove and ride the rocket down on Isfahan himself.
