Rick Santorum and Satan
My name is Steve Dennis and I am a recovering Catholic.
Okay, I said it, I am a recovering Catholic: I was raised as a Catholic and I attended Catholic school for eight years, but my experience in Catholic school coupled with the fact that the leaders of the Catholic church didn’t quite live up to the standards they taught me I must live up to has driven me away from not only the Catholic church but organized religion in general. I keep my religious beliefs to myself for they are nobody’s business but mine, and my beliefs are between me and God. I live my life as just and as moral as I can, always trying to do what is right, while hurting nobody else, and when I am gone I hope to be judged on my actions, for in my opinion actions are more important than words.
My unwillingness to forgive the Catholic church and their leaders probably says more about me than it says about the church but I still cannot find it in my heart to move past the horrific scandal and coverup that was going on for years in the church. So it is with some concern that I read the words of Rick Santorum from 2008.
Satan has his sights on the United States of America!,” Santorum thundered to a Florida university crowd four years ago in a speech unearthed by the Drudge Report.
“The Father of Lies has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies would have his sights on,” Santorum said. “[A] good, decent, powerful, influential country — the United States of America
I am not one who would disqualify anyone from being president of the United States based on their religious views–as we all know the constitution gives us the right to practice any religion as we see fit–my only criteria in voting for president is that person’s stance on the issues and their religion doesn’t factor into that equation one iota.
But at the same time I do not want a president standing in front of the people of the United States who thinks that he is involved in some type of Holy War against Satan, that is not his job, I simply want a president who will stand up and defend the constitution.
Rick Santorum will be asked about these comments at the debate tomorrow night and he needs to draw a clear distinction between his personal beliefs and the way he will govern as president. There is no doubt that Rick Santorum is under attack by the media–and it is probably being orchestrated by Mitt Romney–and there should be a clear distinction between Rick Santorum the citizen and Rick Santorum the president, but he will have to make that distinction if he hopes to have any chance at winning the nomination and defeating Barack Obama in November.
America's Watchtower 
I personally don’t see an issue whatsoever with his statement either as a candidate or as a citizen. But what the heck would I know I attend the Church that Jesus Christ founded, the Church you have rejected and thus have rejected Jesus. Yes, when one leaves the Church they in effect are rejecting Jesus. How dare you blame the whole Church because of what 4 percent of stupid, liberal priests with homosexual tendencies did. Yes, what the priests did was horrendous but since the scandal broke the Church has done way more to combat abuse than any other organization or particular group in this country, and maybe the even the world. But some people are just so filled with blind hatred they are unable to see reality. I will pray that you come back to Jesus’ Church.
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Thanks for your prayers and I am sorry I offended you, but the Church only made these changes because they got caught.
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Not true. They were in the process of addressing this before the media broke the story of the scandal.
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What offended me was this statement “My name is Steve Dennis and I am a recovering Catholic” because it shows ignorance on so many levels. The Catholic Church is not a disease. If it wasn’t for that ignorant comment I probably would not have commented at all.
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The line was meant to be a joke, I heard a comedian use that line years ago. I know this won’t make you any less upset with me, but it wasn’t meant to be taken seriously.
I did state that this is more of an indictment about myself than about the Catholic church and I understand that the church itself is not a disease, but there was a disease festering within the church for years and the fact that Cardinal Law was not only not punished for his role in the scandal, and instead offered a cushy job in the Vatican (he was reassigned, much like he reassigned the offending priests) has done nothing to make ne feel better about the whole situation.
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Steve, I’m not a big Santorum fan… but I THINK he was simply referring to what definitely feels like a war on Christianity in America.
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I am a fan of Santorum, but this is an issue which makes him unelectable. I know he was speaking to a religious institution and I know this is an attack by the media but even if the words were taken out of context they will still bring him down.
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It took courage to expose your feelings. I for one do not judge you. We each have to come to terms with God in our own way.
As for Santorum, I think he was sincere; but, the media will have a hay day with him.
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Thanks Jim, this was the hardest post I have ever written and I thought about sending it to the trash bin, but it’s too late for that now.
I do believe Santorum was sincere as well and it is actually a nice change to see a politician who holds certain core values and is unwilling to change them in order to get elected. The media is all over him for this but at least he does stand for something.
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Steve, I can understand the fact you you thought about trashing what you had written, but would you then have been questioning your freedom of speech? Last I checked we still had that right. You (we) will always offend someone with what you (we) say, that is a given, maybe call it a necessary evil, if you will. We all have different opinions and you are entitled to yours, when you start mincing words because someone else might not like it, you are giving up your right to that free speech. Continue what you are doing, everyone benefits from it, whether you know it or not.
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That is a great question and a great point Lou. If I write a post and I do it with the intent that I should never offend anyone with what I write, then what is the point of writing in the first place. We all have differing opinions and I have offended many people in the past but this is the first time I have offended a friend (at least that I know of) but I still wrote what I believed and that is probably what is most important.
I thought about trashing it because it started on a personal note and while I usually have no problem writing about politics this went beyond that and I struggled with writing about my personal feelings. In the end I am glad that I did it because it has helped me to come to grips with my feeling on this issue.
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Steve,
I too was raised Catholic and had the exact same reactions – but for other reasons as well. I went through a long journey through all aspects of searching. I went full circle, from living with a real witch, eastern religion, etc.
Our actions, how we live, unfortunately is not the standard by which we are judged. It’s whether we missed the mark or not. Scripture promises if we knock, Yeshua will open, seek and we will find. All it takes is sincere searching.
The Catholic church was corrupted in the 3rd century by Constatine, and subsequently, most of the existing Protestant churches, by the evil in the world …. America’s wealth has only given us the ability to be free to search but without that, no one is entirely free.
I pray that you ask Him that if He is real, …… and if so, … that He prove it to you. It’s a promise that has drawn true believers for centuries. Blessings on you and your writings brother; you’ve proved to me you have the call of God on your life, long ago!
Since I made that step, and I talk to others one on one, and I explain how He has acted through me over the years, people seem to be amazed, but it takes each one working out our salvation with fear and trembling. Phillipians 2:12
John english / aka josiah
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Thanks josiah for the kind words.
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But you’re right, it’s not about CHURCH – We’re not looking for a Pastor or Priest, We’re in desperate need of a Moral Leader, however. And THAT seems to be the difficulty. You admit to aiming to live a Moral life – sadly, many Americans haven’t a CLUE what that means because they were’t taught morality. Morality, more often than not, leads to some notion of “religion.” Like you, I am “religion shy” but love God! I do not attend any church, but I am able to read the Bible! If you get past the sensationalist attributes of “satan” and see exactly what Santorum is talking about … I don’t know about you, but I agree – we’ve (moral Americans) grown soft about promiscuity, about marriage, about child-rearing … about many basic moral and ethical issues that take us back to Church teachings – or Biblical teachings. Makes no difference to me is the Satan is figurative or ??? it is a representation of evil, which is something hard for Americans to fathom. Sean Hannity was talking about evil today. I guess he wrote a book about it – Deliver Us from Evil. I have not read it.
Anyway … I understand you point – that Rick needs to control the topic and keep it political and remember he is not a pastoral candidate but a political one. 🙂
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I understand what Santorum was saying and I understand he was speaking to a friendly crowd when he made these remarks, but he is going to have to tone this down. And to be fair, he really hasn’t spoken like this while running for president, still I get the feeling he is chomping at the bit to start.
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They’re all crazy. Half of them claimed God Himself told them to run for president. Either they’re schizophrenic or God is hedging His bets.
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I’m glad you posted this. I don’t feel so alone now. I think you know how I feel about the Catholic church-and if I might add the discontent goes back a long way. Check out Martin Luther.
Politically though, I think all this talk is taking the spotlight off Obama, and time is just being wasted. This is after the election kind of stuff, not campaign talk.
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Thanks rjjrdq, I’m glad to know I am not alone. I agree with you; this is taking the spotlight off of Obama and his policies and it is a deliberate attempt at distracting the candidates from the issues at hand.
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I covered this over at my place. I think it’s a matter of context. He was speaking at an extremely Conservative Catholic University. So, in a sense, he was speaking to the choir.
In terms of content, I agree with him. I’ve always seen this as a fight between good and evil. More than likely, my biggest difference with Santorum is that many of the social issues cannot be fixed with legislation. Government used for “conservative” ends fail just as badly as when the liberals try to legislate immorality. Most of the social issues are people issues, not government issues,
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I also agree with what he was trying to say and you are right; Santorum needs to stop focusing on the social issues and concentrate on Barack Obama and his policies. We have often said, you can’t regulate morality but I get the feeling Santorum feels he can.
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Matt, from what I hear on the media, Santorum seems to be addressing more and more of his remarks to the choir – now he’s recently said he’d use the bully pulpit of the Presidency to warn Americans of the “dangers of contraception,” even if he won’t use the position to try to have contraceptives outlawed.
I’m sure the cheers from the choir are heartwarming to the candidate, but the fact is the rest of us can hear them as well, including the words that prompted them. The choir, for better or worse, is not representative of the majority of Americans, whom I think Santorum is steadily alienating.
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I agree TGY, this may play well in the primary season but it will hurt him in the general election. I do commend Santorum because I honestly think he is sticking to what he believes even if it costs him the election and that is refreshing in todays political world where candidates usually say what they think the people want to hear.
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That is a trap Rick Santorum has to be careful to not fall into. It is also one of the biggest problems I have with him. Even though I agree with him on most of the issues, he is more than willing to use the government to further social issues. That has been tried for years and has been an unmitigated failure. Morality can not be legislated.
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I agree with him on most of the issues as well Larry, but you said it best when you said morality cannot be legislated. It must be taught and that should be left up to the parents.
This is a trap; the media is trying to paint him as a right wing radical and he has got to be careful not to take this too far if he wants to get elected. And I think it is safe to assume Mitt Romney’s camp is probably behind this attack as well.
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I think its nothing more than a Red Herring. It’s a diversion to keep our focus on social issues and off the fact that Obama’s policies and his party’s actions are destroying America on multiple fronts. Those fronts include the economic, constitutional, and cultural. Obama cannot win talking about the economy. He can’t win talking about ObamaCare, He can’t win talking about the financial reform law. He can’t win talking about the national debt and spending. He can’t win talking about gas prices. The left wants us focusing on these social issues and off the issues that are really killing us.
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I agree John, this is a deliberate diversion on the part of the media acting on behalf of Barack Obama. They do not want to focus on his failed policies so they are going after Santorum on the social issues. We are going to need to get this conversation back on the issues of the day as soon as possible.
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Santorum is a scary person. He is really big on how government is pushing its views on people and yet he pushes his views much more firmly. And the guy likes pork.
I really don’t think someone who has a Dark Ages view of the world is going to help.
Reason is what we need to focus on not spooky thump-in-the-dark stuff.
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It is okay for him to push his personal views as long as he is a citizen, but as president I would have a problem with this.
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Steve – I am in the same boat. I grew up in the church and rejected it for probably some of the same reasons as you.
Religious institutions are, like governments, self serving. They are like governments. The survival of the institution comes before the needs of the public. Just my opinion….WM
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Sadly I think you are right in many cases.
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Steve, like you I’ve pretty much turned my back on organized religion without turning my back on God, the whimpering of the smugly self-righteous notwithstanding.
As to the Catholic Church, learning of the sins of the priests was bad enough, but what turned so many off to the Church was learning of the Church’s Nixonian response – hide the problem, transfer the priests to other parishes without warning the congregations, etc. How anyone can claim that they were acting righteously is beyond me. Even more astounding is the claim that the Church was making plans to act righteously at some point in the future!
Take good care and may God bless us all!
TGY
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I couldn’t agree with you more TGY! The way the church moved these priests around instead of reporting them to the authorities is what is most disgusting about the whole scandal to me. And in the end the man who did most of the transferring–Cardinal Law–was himself tranffered to the Vatican when he should have been punished.
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God made seven churches and five of them are failing the people because they are NOT teaching that the anti christ comes first. Theresa your spending time defending a sick church and NOT defending our LORD, even your attitude is NOT the LORD’s. How dare You judge this gentleman for speaking his mind? WHY don’t you go after an athiest and let them have it. I too am a Catholic and I quit going to church because of the political speech and CONSTANT begging for money,I’m too BROKE to keep going to church and have the priest brow beat me into his thinking and NOT our LORD’s, some of the meanest people I’ve met are Catholics and that is NOT the only church of our LORD’s. You’d be better off with forgiveness than letting someone you don’t know have it.I’d rather read the bible myself than listen to priests misleading their congregation.
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Concerning Rick Santorum, I haven’t a problem with his statement, for the reasons many have already stated. Having said that, he is going to have to be extremely careful to frame this debate. If he can not or does not do that, it will sink his candidacy. The media and the Obama camp will see to that.
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And don’t forget about Mitt Romney, I have a feeling his campaign was behind this whole thing as well.
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My wife is one of those “recovering Catholics” as well. I’m sure it makes some family gatherings interesting, at least it does for her. I would ignore the Rice person, he/she obviously forgot about what her god said about judging others. One’s belief in God is a personal thing and it is something that should feel natural and not forced.
In regards to Santorum, as a someone in the so-called “mushy middle,” I have deep concerns about him. He seems to be basing his whole candidacy on them gays are getting uppity and the whole culture war thing. I really think that he would take that big government that everyone hates and put it squarely in our bedrooms and dictate morality. In my mind, that is just as bad as liberal nanny-statism.
On the policy, I’m not seeing much. With some of the things I seen pointed out on Red State, I have to wonder if he would just rubber stamp everything that crosses his desk as long as it was Republicans passing it. That was one of the biggest issues I had with Bush and we seen what happened to the deficit during that time.
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I am saddened by Teresa because we have basically agreed on every other issue until I wrote this. She was so quickly willing to call me ignorant because I do not share her Catholic beliefs and have chosen a different path in life and in faith. I thought the constitution afforded us this liberty but I guess I was wrong.
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I worship God who created us and the earth, weekly in church. I follow His son Jesus Christ, and am filled with the Holy Spirit, That is a mouthful! it says in God’s Word aka The Bible. The Bible says you will be judged in the same way as you judge others. Matthew 7;1 These are the very words of Jesus Christ, So be careful folks. God Loves all of us! He is willing that none of us should perish. God sent His only son to die for our sins and Jesus did so willingly. And then rose from the dead! Jesus is the strongest foundation Called the capstone or cornerstone, Any man who builds on that foundation is one that America needs as a leader!
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Well said! People do not have to worship at the same church to follow Jesus and his teachings, and in the end isn’t it important whether or not Jesus is inside you and not which demonination of Christianity you subscribe to?
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God gave us His son Jesus who was God incarnate. When Jesus went to be at His Fathers right hand He left us with His Holy Spirit. So If you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you are filled with the very Spirit of God. If I leaned on my own understanding of “things” I would definately be be in a rubber room somewhere. I am in need of God’s grace in a big way! There are many conduits of God’s grace. The Bible, prayer, worship,other christians.Anyway, God must love me! He brought us together nearly 30 years ago That is not luck. That was done on purpose by a loving God!
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I apologize but I forgot to mention perhaps the most important conduit to God’s grace. Humbly confessing our sins to God and asking for help with repentance.
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You are the greatest blessing that have ever come into my life and I couldn’t be happier. And what about our two great teenage boys who have never gotten into any trouble! Another blessing bestowed upon us!
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After reading the post you put, Steve and all the comments, I have come to a conclusion! Religion is such a touchy subject, even more so than politics. Most of us have beliefs in someone or something and it should be personal. The problem with Santorum, is not that he said it (it was at a place that the people would want to hear his view), but that it is being used now against him and he probably knew it might surface. There is not much you can hide these days. I think it should be left in the context of where he was and with what he said. Now, if he chooses to use it as he is going around the country and starts to “preach” about it, that is where I will have a problem. I think it is in the news, because it is forcing people to focus on it and not the big picture. Don’t we have other bigger problems in this country, that we should be bickering about religion? I would never tell someone else how to practice their religion and we all have our reason why we are or are not religious and that is our own business. I don’t care what religion our president is, but I do care that he has morals and ethics and just a plain sense of right and wrong. TGY, I am with you on Santorum alienating people if his campaign starts leaning towards religion. Campaigning is not now or has it ever been about religion and that is how it should stay. As William would say “that is just my opinion”.
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It sure is a touchy subject and it looks as if I have lost one online friend because of this post. Barack Obama has managed to change the subject in the campaign and take the focus off of his policies and the media has played right along. I admire the fact that Santorum is unwavering in his beliefs and is unafraid to talk about them, it is quite refreshing.
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The media will always play along, you know that! As TGY reminds me, I need to keep an open mind on things, and I try to do just that. However, it seems that there are those that will not waiver on their religious beliefs and you just have to accept that and move on. To focus on that alone would do a disservice to all the other matters that need to be discussed. We all, at one time or another will lose a friend or acquaintance over a disagreement, that is life. Take another tack, Steve.
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I guess I believe that you can not please everyone with what your opinion is. If you try to do that, then it is not your opinion anymore, but what you think someone else will be comfortable with. At that point, is it worth posting the blog? As I have said before, we don’t all agree on everything, if we did, it would be pretty boring to read the posts, but we do come to terms with each other. At some point we just have to agree to disagree and move on, assuming we are all adults here. I don’t agree with everyone that posts here, but I sure like hearing what the other side has to say.
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I agree Lou, if I didn’t write my opinion on the issue there really wouldn’t be any reason for me to write at all. There is no way that all of us can agree on every issue, and I would hope that even in our disagreement we could debate the issues but apparently that is not always the case. I do not agree with everything that is written in the comments, even by those who agree with me, some of it is offensive but I let it all stand and do not delete it because I think we all have the right to be heard.
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