The Santorum firestorm

The Santorum firestorm

This whole mess over Sen. Rick Santorum’s interview with the Associated Press in which he said that if the Supreme Court legalized consensual gay sex, then it would have to legalize every kind of “consesual” perversion out there has gotten out of hand. (The story I wrote for Catholic World News on this is here. I’ve removed the subscriber-only requirement so that anyone can read it.)

Some of the shriller voices in the punditocracy are comparing it to Trent Lott’s remarks last year. Even though I thought the controversy over Lott was mainly a put-up job designed mainly to bring down a Republican leader, I think that this so-called controversy is even less of one. Even the mainstream media recognize it. ABC News’ political writers acknowledge that most of this outrage is ginned up by Democrats and their allies in the press to attack Republicans whenever they can.

Could anyone deny that most Washington reporters tend to move more aggressively to bring down Republicans in trouble than Democrats in trouble?

And could anyone deny that Democratic operatives work harder to build the kind of relationships with journalists that pay off at times like these?

And could anyone deny the causal connection between the phenomena described in the previous two paragraphs?

The fact is that Santorum was right in both what he actually said and what his attackers accuse him of saying. If the Supreme Court rules that Texas’ anti-sodomy law is unconstitutional based on a ficitional constitutional right to privacy, then no state will be able to pass any law outlawing any sexual practice whether it be bigamy, incest, and all the other immoralities mentioned. And why shouldn’t Santorum also be allowed to say that his religious beliefs cause him to acknowledge that homosexuality is immoral? For liberals it isn’t enough that we say, “I disagree with you, now go live your life.” No, if we don’t agree with them and endorse their views, we are evil and must be punished.

I predict that not a single Catholic bishop will open his mouth to say that, as a Catholic, Santorum is completely correct in saying that homosexuality is immoral (yes, even though that’s not actually what he said). It’s not a far-reaching predicton, I know. But when is the last time, a US bishop has stood up in public and affirmed the Church’s teaching on this? This is the problem with our bishops: they don’t lead us. Lay people are supposed to engage the world, but we need our teachers to point the way laid out for us in Christ’s teachings. Yet, how often have you heard your bishop or priest preach on homosexuality, fornication, abortion, or any of the other difficult teachings?

I’m afraid that it’s going to get awfully lonely for Sen. Santorum for a while. I think it would be worthwhile to send him our prayers and perhap email him a note of support and hope that the forces attacking him don’t impel him to back down from his beliefs.

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