Santorum: Mainline Protestant Churches Are in the Grip of Satan

From AlterNet:

Kyle Mantyla of People for the American Way's indispensable Right Wing Watch has come up with an audiotape of a Rick Santorum address to the students of the conservative Catholic Ave Maria University in Florida, delivered in 2008. It's an altogether remarkable speech depicting Rick as a leader in a "spiritual war" against Satan for control of America. Much of its involves the usual right-wing stuff about the conquest of academia (outside bastions like Ave Maria) by the forces of moral relativism, but then there is this Santorum assessment of mainline Protestantism:

"[O]nce the colleges fell and those who were being educated in our institutions, the next was the church. Now you'd say, 'wait, the Catholic Church'? No. We all know that this country was founded on a Judeo-Christian ethic but the Judeo-Christian ethic was a Protestant Judeo-Christian ethic, sure the Catholics had some influence, but this was a Protestant country and the Protestant ethic, mainstream, mainline Protestantism, and of course we look at the shape of mainline Protestantism in this country and it is in shambles, it is gone from the world of Christianity as I see it."

More here.

For everything I've said about respecting religion simply because it is culture, and because it is deeply embedded in people's sense of identity, I have to admit that statements like Santorum's make it really difficult to bite my tongue. That is to say, fuck you Rick Santorum. Fuck you and your piece-of-shit, sanctimonious style of Catholicism. I mean, it's one thing to call out the Mormons, who do, indeed, have massive theological differences with almost all of the rest of Christianity. But to call out denominations that do subscribe to the basic foundational principles shared by almost all of Christianity, simply because you do not like their politics, well, that's some cruel bullshit.

And let's get this straight. When Santorum says that Mainline Protestants have "fallen away from Christianity," he's essentially condemning them to Hell. That's what happens when you aren't a Christian; you go to Hell. All this because Mainline Protestants like to stress Jesus' compassion for the poor and suffering instead of stressing what Santorum prefers, controlling women's bodies, oppressing homosexuals, and war, war, war. I mean, from my recovering Southern Baptist point of view, it seems to me that the Mainliners are far more in keeping with Christ's message and deeds than scum bags like Santorum, but then, what do I know? I'm no longer a Christian. So I'm going to Hell, too, I guess.

But at least I'm going with a clear conscience.

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