Presidential candidate Rick Santorum reiterated Monday that if President Barack Obama says he is a Christian, then he is one. But the former Pennsylvania senator told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that some of Obama’s thoughts about environmental and energy issues, might have nothing to do with his faith, but signify a “radical theology.”
Santorum has in recent days come under fire because he labeled some of Obama’s environmental views — including his stance on man-made global warming — as radical, but told Hannity he obviously was not questioning the president’s Christian faith.
“This president holds, you know, holds to this higher power that somehow or another, we have to worry about the global warming — that is what I considered a radical ideology — and I refer to it as the theology,” Santorum said. “But obviously, it has nothing to do with the president’s faith.
“Look, he went to Reverend [Jeremiah] Wright's church for 20 years — I mean, now you can question what kind of theology Reverend Wright has, but it’s a Christian church,” he said. “I am not going to question the president and what the president believes in when it comes to his faith.
“But I am going to question what he is doing in this country, to drive up the cost of energy — destroy this economy,” Santorum continued. “And do so at the behest of a bunch of radical environmentalists who do, in fact, want to drive up the cost of energy and pull down this economy.”
Santorum also noted his recent comments about Obama’s “theology” of putting “the Earth over the needs of man” are nothing new, and creating a prosperous society is critical, because poorer countries do not have the wherewithal to worry about the environment.
“The best way to create a sound environment is for people to be doing well and to have prosperity, because you go to countries where in fact the mankind is not doing well — and let me [assure] you, the last thing they worry about is the environment,” Santorum said. “It depends on America’s growth and prosperity, so we can in fact be a good husband to the environment as the way we should.
“And that is all I was talking about and for them to continually distort, this is the kind of stuff — that I think is actually — I think [is] one of the reasons we’re doing well in the polls, because people see it for what it is,” he said. “They see a national media trying to destroy conservatives.”
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