Rick Santorum In 2008: There’s No Such Thing As A Liberal Christian

Rick Santorum, when discussing Obama, said the problem is with the very idea of liberal Christianity.

Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum raised eyebrows for his comment saying that President Obama subscribes to a “phony theology.” The former Pennsylvania Senator backtracked from the statements on CBS’ Face the Nation, saying the he doesn’t judge the President’s religion.

I’ve repeatedly said I don’t question the president’s faith,” Santorum told host Bob Schieffer. “I’ve repeatedly said that I believe the President’s Christian. He says he’s Christian. But I am talking about his worldview, the way he addresses problems in this country, and they’re different than most people view it in America.”

But in a 2008 interview with the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life the former Senator did just that. Santorum, when questioned if Obama was a “secular, liberal, Christian,” seemed to imply that there is no such thing as liberal Christian.

When you turn the “salvation story” into a “liberation theology story,” as Santorum claimed Obama’s Chicago church, United Church of Christ, had done, you “abandon Christendom.”

QUESTION: What would your opinion be of this stance: Obama has been very honest in the past about his faith. He said he was attracted to the church because of its non-literal approach to the Bible. Now that’s coming through Wright. His speech before the United Church of Christ, he very much embraced the basic theological approach of the United Church of Christ. So you could say that he is a very sincere, liberal Christian, with a non-literal approach to Scripture, who would argue that, voicing Niebuhr, that the primary application of the Gospel is in issues of economic, social justice. And that he accepts his church’s teaching on sexuality, in the same way that you accept your church’s teachings on sexuality. So in that case he is a sincere liberal Christian. Would you buy that?

ANSWER:
I could buy that. Again, yes, it goes to the larger question of whether I could buy that overall from that point of view. But is there such thing as a sincere liberal Christian, which says that we basically take this document and re-write it ourselves? Is that really Christian? That’s a bigger question for me. And the answer is, no, it’s not. I don’t think there is such a thing. To take what is plainly written and say that I don’t agree with that, therefore, I don’t have to pay attention to it, means you’re not what you say you are. You’re a liberal something, but you’re not a Christian. That’s sort of how I look at it.

When you go so far afield of that and take what is a salvation story and turn it into a liberation theology story, which is done in the Catholic world as well as in the evangelical world, you have abandoned Christendom, in my opinion. And you don’t have a right to claim it.