By definition, religious fundamentalists genuinely believe that their take on God and humanity is the ultimate truth. That might be an emotionally satisfying place to be for someone of limited sophistication and intellect, but its a very dangerous place to be if you are a politician.
In spite of the political riskiness of proclaiming his truth as, the truth, Rick Santorum has never shied away from sitting in judgment of those who don’t share his religious values or perspective. Speaking to a crowd at a campaign rally on Friday, Santorum announced:
The “president’s agenda” is “not about you,” he said. “It’s not about you. It’s not about your quality of life. It’s not about your job. It’s about some phony ideal, some phony theology. Oh, not a theology based on the Bible, a different theology, but no less a theology.”
The predominately conservative crowd roared their approval.
Then of course, Santorum’s campaign team went into damage control. Knowing full well that the conservative Catholic presidential candidate had just publicly raised the specter of Barack Obama not being a ‘real’ Christian, his National Communications Director, Hogan Gidley quickly got out a statement to the media:
“The President says he’s a Christian and Rick believes that and has even said so publicly many times. Rick was talking about the President’s belief in the secular theology of government and how believing that theology is dangerous because government theology teaches that it’s perfectly fine to take away our God-given rights and freedoms.”
Speaking Sunday morning on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Santorum himself tried a little sanctimonious damage control of his own:
“I accept the fact that the president is a Christian. But when you have a world view that elevates the Earth above man and says we can’t take those resources because its going to harm the Earth, it’s just all an attempt to centralize power and give more power to the government.”
Obviously, what the rest of us just don’t understand is that Rick Santorum and other conservative Christians know God’s will better than the rest of us. So only they are qualified to determine what are acceptable religious values and ideals.
How ironic! Some naive religious folks, like yours truly, have this incredibly silly notion that God has entrusted humanity to take care of this world; to respect and care for God’s creatures and creations. While the Earth’s resources are ours to enjoy and utilize, it is not our place to abuse, misuse and destroy creation.
If you shared that ridiculous perspective, or, you happen to be an atheist, don’t you feel foolish now? Thank goodness we have fine upstanding Christians in our midst like the Prophet Santorum who are always ready to straighten us out (pun intended, kiss-kiss Ricky!). It should be clear to all true American patriots, God is a good Republican who believes that humanity in general, AND AMERICANS IN PARTICULAR, have both a right and a responsibility to rape and pillage the Earth for selfish financial gain. That’s the true Christian way.
Are we all clear on that point now?
So this is God’s will?
In light of the holy prophet Santorum’s reasoning, here is a classic response!
http://front.moveon.org/a-bible-lesson-from-the-west-wing/
Mitchell,
Love the Pro[het Santorum….love it so much that last Friday I went to my local election office here in Tennessee and voted for santorum to be the RePig nominee….we have open primaries here and early voting started, so I did my part to help and have encouraged others to do so as well….it felt very weird to click on his name, but I know in November I can go back and vote a straight Democratic ticket and help remove the RePiggery and Baggers from not only our very own statehouse, but also DC.
Found out if one does NOT have a photo ID here in TN, you can simply ask for a mail-in ballot – still have to go pick it up, but it is simpler than hanging out and arguing with the DMV for the idiotic RePig Photo ID harassment law.
If God’s not going to speak to Santorum directly, in the form of a lightening bolt, I’d like to spread around what Jesus would have to say–especially the last part, about judgement. See “What Would Jesus Say? (to the religious right) at http://thepoliticali.blogspot.com/2012/02/what-would-jesus-say-to-religious-right.html.