The political righteous . . .

First, listen to one of my favorite Johnny Cash tunes.  If you want to read the rest of the post, which is not nearly so clever, read on.

I thought Rick Santorum was running for President.

Apparently he aspires to be Judge.

Speaking to a Tea Party rally in Columbus, Ohio Saturday, Santorum said that President Obama  believes in “some phony theology. Not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology."


A few hours later Saturday he refused to back away from the statement, saying that he did not intend to question the President's Christianity with this statement, but then questioned the President's plan to require insurance companies to provide coverage for birth control as an intrusion on religious liberty.


Then today on Face the Nation (CBS), less than 24 hours later,  Santorum said something entirely different.  Santorum said he was talking about “radical environmentalists” who “have a worldview that elevates the Earth above man and says that we can’t take those resources, because we’re going to harm the Earth by things that frankly are just not scientifically proven.” He spoke of global climate change as evidence.


Perhaps Santorum has been under the influence of Mitt Romney for too long, but in Romnean fashion he has offered us a multiple choice explanation, vague as the choices are, for his unequivocal condemnation of the President's Christian theology.

But now he says that he doesn't question Obama's Christianity.  After it has swirled around the spin cycle of the news outlets for 24 hours.

" . . .some phony theology. Not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology."

It's easy to see how that statement could be misunderstood.

 In his assertion about the President's position on the environment, Santorum said:

"I wasn't suggesting the president's not a Christian. I accept the fact that the president is a Christian. I just said that when you have a worldview that elevates the Earth above man and says that we can't take those resources because we're going to harm the Earth; by things that frankly are just not scientifically proven, for example, the politicization of the whole global warming debate - this is all an attempt to, you know, to centralize power and to give more power to the government."

Jesus didn't talk a lot about taking.  Because taking gets in the way of giving.  Taking gets in the way of sharing.  I know a lot of environmentalists.  For the most part they are pretty normal people.  They are not druids who worship the trees or mother earth, although it is fun to have a little fun with them about those caricatures.   What most of them do understand is that the "taking" of earth's resources by one person, or group, or nation, affects the ability of others to share in those limited resources. That is a belief that is Biblical.

The "taking" of the resources is not about simply harming the planet earth.  It is about unfairly "taking" that which God gave to us all, not just to those who can afford to buy them, or who can just take them, not under any Biblical plan, but according to a business plan contrived in a corporate boardroom.

Also this weekend, Santorum condemned public education as "anachronistic."  Mr. Santorum home schools his children.  He condemned certain prenatal tests, such as amniocentesis, as being tools to justify abortion, and said that they should not be covered by insurance. All of his assertions are laced with references to his faith.

What Mr. Santorum is saying is that President Obama's version of Christianity does not look or sound like his when it comes to birth control, education, the environment, and the role of government, and therefore it must be wrong.

President Obama spoke recently at the National Day of Prayer Breakfast.  He spoke in intimate terms of his Christian faith, and how it affects his life and how it affects his presidency.  Maybe you'll agree, maybe you won't, but at least you'll know something about what he actually believes. Maybe you want to read it too.

I agree with Rick Santorum.  President Obama's interpretation  is wrong. He doesn't have it all right.

Neither does Rick Santorum.

Neither do I.  Neither do you.

Now what are we going to do?

.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDSN1F72QU4

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