The Lead

Rick Santorum who hopes to become the Republican nominee for President believes Satan is using mainline churches to destroy America. From the Washington Monthly:

Now there is no uniform definition of “mainline Protestantism,” but most people would understand it as including the religious denominations affiliated with the World Council of Churches (which claim 560 million members), or in the U.S., with the National Council of Churches (about 45 million members). That’s a lot of church-going Christians. And while it’s not unusual to hear the occasional Protestant fundamentalist or Catholic traditionalist mock us mainliners as morally and theologically lax, excessively “secular,” too “liberal,” too friendly to feminists and sodomites and so on and so forth, you don’t hear many politicians publicly talk that way, much less suggest all these Christians are really in the grasp of Satan.

Santorum says, "Satan is Systematically Destroying America," Kyle Mantyla in Right Wing Watch reports:

Back in 2008, Rick Santorum traveled to Ave Maria University in Florida to deliver an address to students attending the Catholic university founded by Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan which he moved from Michigan as part of his effort to build his own personal theocracy in Naples.

Santorum told the students at Ave Maria how lucky they were to be living in a time when God's Army is more needed than ever because all of the major institutions in society were under attack by Satan.

The audio of Santorum's remarks is still posted on the Ave Maria website and the bulk of his speech was dedicated to explaining how God had used him, his political career, and even the death of his son Gabriel in the fight to outlaw abortion in America.

But Santorum began his remarks by explaining to the students in attendance how every institution in America has been destroyed by Satan; from academia to politics with even the church having fallen under His sway - not the Catholic church, of course, but "mainline Protestantism" which is in such "shambles" that it is not even Christian any longer:

(Santorum's full remarks can be heard by watching the video, and read here (scroll down).)

Chris Hayes and panel on MSNBC discuss the political ramifications of Santorum's position.

Who knew - that nice Altar Guild member at your local Episcopal Church - working for Satan? Taking CS Lewis and The Screwtape Letters a step further?

Comments (9)

I hate it when I don't get the memo...

Guy Butler

Posted by Gb46 | February 19, 2012 10:58 AM

While I acknowledge the reality of spiritual warfare, I suspect one of the tricks the devil has up his sleeve is the human propensity to point fingers at the shortcomings of other people and denominations without acknowledging one's own failures or those of the denomination to which one belongs. Probably in "The Screwtape Letters" somewhere.

Not to mention, this just makes me want to break out in an immitation of the Church Lady: "Who could it be? Could it be.....Satan?!" Take the log out of your own eye, Rick...

Posted by Tom Sramek Jr | February 19, 2012 11:14 AM

If this weren't so scary it would be funny. My first thought was that Santorum is fueling an American Christian Taliban.

Posted by Peter Pearson | February 19, 2012 3:58 PM

In a few short days, as Lent kicks off, we will hear what God thinks is true and acceptable fasting:

"If you stop making trouble for others, if you stop using cruel words and pointing your finger at others..." (Isaish 58:9)

One hopes and prays Mr. Santorum hears and heeds these words of the one he calls "Lord" when he opens his mouth on the campaign trail, because thus far, such behavior seems his stock-in-trade.

I already have a Messiah -- his name is Christ Jesus -- so I need no other, and I am very leery of politicians with messianic complexes that seek to stand in his stead, particularly when they do not show the unconditional love and compassion, even toward harlots, tax-collecting turncoats and crucified thieves, that he did.

And a so-called "Christian" Taliban would be no better for America or the world than a "Muslim" one.

"Dislodge that plank in your own eye before pointing at the specks of sawdust in those of others, Rick," Jesus says (Luke 6:41-42).

Posted by Gregory Orloff | February 19, 2012 4:24 PM

Ironically, Jesus was also accused of doing Satan's work (Luke 11:14-26). I wonder if Mr. Santorum has even ever read that passage of the Bible?

Posted by Gregory Orloff | February 19, 2012 6:05 PM

As long as we are a member of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, I wonder if Mr Santorum's comments have any credence.

James Pirrung

Posted by James Pirrung-Mikolajczyk | February 21, 2012 11:35 AM

Posting for James: (sorry James for accidentally deleting your comment- there were duplicates and I checked too many boxes)

Name: James Pirrung-Mikolajczyk
As long as we support the mass murder of unborn infants and give full
sponsorship to the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, comments
like Santorum's are justified. When are we going to wake up and realize
that abortion is murder and defend the most innocent of Christ's children?

Posted by Ann Fontaine | February 21, 2012 11:50 AM

James - If abortion were murder, it would be illegal and doctors and their patients placed on trial and sent to jail - or, in some states and in a bizarre twist - face execution.

This is not the case.

You may not like it. You may not agree with it. You may consider it an egregious affront to your understanding of all that is good and holy. And, you would be most certainly entitled to that opinion.

However, The Episcopal Church, of which I am an ordained member and which I faithfully represent on the board of RCRC, believes that, while abortion is always a 'tragedy', it is always the personal choice of the woman who is pregnant.

Posted by Elizabeth Kaeton | February 21, 2012 6:33 PM

"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal." -Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

Arguments from legality have zero bearing in real Christianity. In the first century, it was illegal to be a Christian. There is nothing good that comes from this illogical statement.

It is a shame that a clergy person in a Christian church supports abortion. If it's always a tragedy, why not stop it? That's like saying the Holocaust was a tragedy but the Nazis were doing something legal.

Posted by James Pirrung-Mikolajczyk | February 21, 2012 10:05 PM

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