[I]s there such thing as a sincere liberal Christian, which says that we basically take this document and re-write it ourselves? Is that really Christian? That’s a bigger question for me. And the answer is, no, it’s not. I don’t think there is such a thing. To take what is plainly written and say that I don’t agree with that, therefore, I don’t have to pay attention to it, means you’re not what you say you are. You’re a liberal something, but you’re not a Christian. That’s sort of how I look at it. When you go so far afield of that and take what is a salvation story and turn it into a liberation theology story, which is done in the Catholic world as well as in the evangelical world, you have abandoned Christendom, in my opinion. And you don’t have a right to claim it.
I could talk about Rick Santorum’s epic religious bigotry and intolerance. I could wax indignant about his refusal to acknowledge the validity of beliefs that fail to dovetail with his own. Why would I want to sound like a broken record, though? Let me instead ask a few questions: Should a man who believes that if one’s Christianity can be described with the term “Liberal”, then those beliefs are invalid be elected President? Should a man who believes that any beliefs that don’t mesh with his own narrow agenda are by definition un-Christian? Is Rick Santorum prepared to be the President of ALL Americans, or will he work to make America over in his own image? Should we elect a President who has stated that he wants to vomit at the mention of “separation of Church and State”?
As if there are any doubts as to what the answers to those questions are.
I find it interesting, and all manner of disturbing, that someone with such openly and admittedly narrow beliefs wants to be the President of a nation possessed of such a wide spectrum of ideological and theological perspectives. That someone who’s pledged to knock down the wall separating Church from State is a serious candidate (at least for the moment) says nothing good about the state of of our public discourse…or our collective attention span.
I could devote a lot of time, energy, and column inches to Santorum’s bigotry, intolerance, and anti-American views, but on the odd chance he does become the Republican nominee, Democrats will enjoy an opportunity to hoist him on his own petard. Santorum has already provided more than enough material that can be used against him. All the Obama campaign will need to do is run commercials featuring Santorum in his own words. After 30 to 60 seconds of Santorum hanging himself, the commercials should just end with a single word:
REALLY??
