Rick Santorum in 2008 participated in a question and answer forum titled “The Press & People of Faith in Politics,” hosted by the Oxford Center for Religion and Public Life. During the forum, Santorum called the Democratic Party the party of sex, a party that preyed on lust, and the party of Woodstock, which he called “the great American orgy.” Santorum also said that it’s impossible to be a liberal and a Christian, and added specifically that Barack Obama, who was then running for President, had “no right to claim” he was a Christian.
At one point, Santorum was fed a statement which included the proposition that “Republican Party is trying to repeal Woodstock.” Santorum replied:
Woodstock is the great American orgy. This is who the Democratic Party has become. They have become the party of Woodstock. The prey upon our most basic primal lusts, and that’s sex. And the whole abortion culture, it’s not about life. It’s about sexual freedom. That’s what it’s about. Homosexuality. It’s about sexual freedom.
All of the things are about sexual freedom, and they hate to be called on them. They try to somehow or other tie this to the Founding Father’s vision of liberty, which is bizarre. It’s ridiculous.
This was not the only ludicrous and extremist statement Santorum made at that symposium. There was also this statement, made in response to how Santorum believes the mainstream media characterizes him:
It comes down to sex. That’s what it’s all about. It comes down to freedom, and it comes down to sex. If you have anything to with any of the sexual issues, and if you are on the wrong side of being able to do all of the sexual freedoms you want, you are a bad guy. And you’re dangerous because you are going to limit my freedom in an area that’s the most central to me. And that’s the way it’s looked at.
And, contrary to what Santorum and his aides were forced to clean up this weekend, Santorum made it clear at this conference that he does not believe Obama or anyone who is a liberal, can be a Christian. For Santorum, it’s all or nothing.
“What is your assessment of Barack Obama’s faith?,” Santorum was asked. His shocking response:
He joined the most popular church in an area of the city where he was going to make his political stand. It had the most reach. It had the most juice. It gave him a platform to be able to go out and use their reach, their power, to help build a base of support for him in that community so he could go and run for office.
He didn’t really much care, in my opinion, what the belief structure was. It was a vehicle. Now, am I saying that he believes everything that Rev. Wright believes? No. But he was willing to tolerate those beliefs for 20 years to achieve a political objective, which was to get him elected.
Could he through that time have become a person of faith and take that faith seriously? I never judge someone’s faith personally. I have no idea whether that he has a personal faith or what that personal faith is. That’s between him and God. I can’t judge any of you on that.
What I can tell you is, objectively, that faith was an avenue for power. It may have ended up in other manifestations, persona or otherwise, but to suggest that his journey was anything other than that, was primarily focused on something other than that, I think is just wrong.
And then later, this:
But is 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.
Hat-tip:Â Kyle Mantyla at Right Wing Watch