Satan has already conquered colleges, universities, and the Protestant religion in the United States, says Rick Santorum. That’s only one of many Hard Right statements by the Republican hopeful, who recently condemned a 1960 Kennedy speech outlining a limited political role for religion. Santorum: "I almost threw up" hearing about the separation of church and state!

Besides, sayeth Rick Santorum, only a snob would want all children to experience college. (And some want him to be our next President! No matter; Santorum is self destructing…)

In the heated race for the Republican nomination, Rick Santorum — who believes Thomas Jefferson’s ideals were deeply flawed — has obviously been working overtime in his overt attempts to attract conservative and Hard Right Christians. Rick Santorum has made some wacky statements, some rather offensive to those who don’t share Rick Santorum’s Hard Right brand of fundamentalist Catholicism; however, since we’re talking about American politics, this type of outspokenness is nothing new.

The issue at hand is not Rick Santorum’s attention-getting statements; the area of serious and legitimate concern is whether the United States would benefit from the leadership of a such an extreme religious fundamentalist — one who honestly believes that American colleges and universities are "controlled by Satan." Do we really want a President who would place more weight on supernatural stories than upon scientific fact? Ancient books over reason, intuition, and logic? Do we want a world leader who might actually believe that he’s being hand-picked by God to speed up the arrival of Judgment Day?

Not at all.

I know I’m not alone in stating for the record that:

1. I want the United States to be led by an intelligent person who demonstrates that he is not only capable of critical thought, but frequently engages in critical thinking when contemplating matters of great importance (e.g., national policy, global issues, in his own personal beliefs…).
2. I want a realist & centrist individual to serve as the next POTUS — not one who misinterprets the meaning of an important spiritual text by believing that each word is meant to be taken literally, not one who believes followers of all spiritual traditions apart from his own harsh brand are doomed, hellbound, or even evil — nor one who attempts to sway the gullible with his fear of a literal Satan.

A closer look at fideistic religious fundamentalism and why we don’t want fundamentalists to govern the U.S.

Rick Santorum says the Obama Agenda Not ‘Based On Bible’

Is Rick Santorum kidding?

First of all, why should America want or need a policy that is strictly based on a religious text? That by itself would prove highly offensive, inept, and idiotic in countless ways to large numbers of Americans – especially those who not only realize, but deeply appreciate the fact that we are a pluralist nation that tightly embraces religious freedom. (We’re still a pluralist nation, right??)

The only Americans who would openly push for a Bible-based national agenda are the fundamentalist Christians and other highly conservative folks, such as the Evangelicals and Charismatics. So, what Rick Santorum is obviously doing here is making a blatant appeal to the Hard Right… the nest of Western zealotry.

Is Rick Santorum actually claiming that ALL of his votes, statements, and goals are Bible-based? It sounds as though he is; but I bet it would be easy to show how silly that claim really is… (Won’t someone else do this research? )

Rick Santorum says:

"Satan first, and most successfully, attacked academia; once academia fell to pride and its own truths, the Protestant Church fell next in the United States!" (– Rick Santorum)

Interpretation: Satan has already successfully influenced the intelligent folks comprising the teaching centers of the United States, who are now Satanic worshippers! And now, all Christian denominations and sects — other than my own comrades, the Catholics, of course — have fallen into Satanic influence! This necessarily means that the United States must align itself with my ultra-conservative, fideistic brand of Catholic faith in all of its laws, rulings, dealings, etc. if the U.S. is to survive!! The U.S. government must take the lead in convincing Americans that the only correct way to interpret the Bible is literally, just like we do.

Does Rick Santorum actually believe there’s only one way to interpret the Bible (which, of course, would be his way)? Such a belief would indicate a serious lack of critical thought on the matter, as well as a tightly closed mind.

I cannot see how the United States would benefit from any type of religious fundamentalist leadership. Hopefully — and I pray this is the case — the United States will not be subjected to such a thing in these increasingly enlightened times…

Here are a couple of other Rick Santorum quotes that reveal his fundamentalist, extremist religious views…

"Satan has set his sights set on America: The country faces spiritual warfare!" (– Rick Santorum)

Interpretation: Satan is not merely the poetic personification of evil; Satan is a real, scientific, living being who is now focusing on corrupting the United States!

"If you were Satan, who would you attack? There’s no one else to go after other than the United States, and that’s been the case for almost 200 years!" (– Rick Santorum)

Interpretation: The United States is the only country that really matters to supernatural strongmen like Satan! Other countries do not matter because the United States is totally IT!

The absence of critical thinking in modern U.S. religious fundamentalism

Resources: Rick Santorum is a hard-core Christian fundamentalist

• Santorum: Satan is Systematically Destroying America – Right Wing Watch
• Santorum wants to impose ‘Judeo-Christian Sharia’ – CNN Opinion (Feb 22, 2012)
• Santorum and Satan – the devil is in the details – CNN Belief Blog: Religion
• Prominent Iowa evangelical leaders throw support to Rick Santorum – LA Times
• Rick Santorum: The evangelical’s Catholic candidate? – Washington Post
• Rick Santorum is coming for your birth control: The GOP presidential candidate is against non-procreative sex — even for married couples – Salon
• Santorum questions Obama’s religious values – Statesman
• My Crucifix Is Bigger Than Yours: Santorum Charges President’s Agenda Springs From A ‘Phony Theology’ – Jonathan Turley
• Santorum rakes Obama on religion: President’s agenda is ‘some phony ideal, some phony theology’ – CBC
• Rick Santorum Stuns Romney: Religious Zealot or viable candidate? – Recovering Republican
• Rick Santorum on Taking Back His Line about Kennedy’s Speech Making Him Want to Throw Up – Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs
• Rick Santorum quotes JFK on religion: Was it gaffe or good politics? Alaska Dispatch
• Rick Santorum Quotes & Controversial Remarks Draw Fire – Huffington Post
• Rick Santorum Religion: God Voter
• Rick Santorum Quotes – BrainyQuotes
• Rick Santorum: JFK’s 1960 Speech Made Me Want to Throw Up – ABC News
• Craziest Rick Santorum Quotes – About
• Rick Santorum on Wikipedia

This post was started on Sunday, February 19, 2012.