Rick Santorum on Values Issues

[Romney] put a mandate on Catholic hospitals, under 'Romneycare,' that they had to provide the morning-after pill, which as you know is an abortifacient. He also provided $50 abortions — subsidized abortions. And for low-income individuals, free abortions. Under Romneycare — exactly what President Obama is doing.

America is suffering a pandemic of harm from pornography. Pornography is toxic to marriages and relationships. It contributes to misogyny and violence against women. It is a contributing factor to prostitution and sex trafficking.

You stood with a guy [...] you knew, shared your values, and was going to go out and work for you to make sure this country was free and safe and prosperous based on believing in free people and free markets and the free economy and, of course, the integrity of the family and the centrality of faith in our lives.

All of a sudden, if you’re instilling faith and teaching them about God in your home, you’re a Madrassa, according to these folks, as if reason doesn’t take place in these homes. Our children will out-reason him. My 12-year-old will out-reason Bill Maher when it comes to understanding how logic works, ’cause (Maher) is completely illogical.

The national media, and yes the left, and yes even some within our own party, have suggested that oh, you just can't talk about [family values]. You just have to be the party of tax cuts. Ladies and gentlemen, if we're just the party of tax cuts, we'll never win another election. America cares about more than just lower taxes.

I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute. The idea that the church can have no influence or no involvement in the operation of the state is absolutely antithetical to the objectives and vision of our country.

The bottom line is we have a problem in this country, and the family is fracturing. Over 40 percent of children born in America are born out of wedlock. [...] [W]e hear this all the time: cut spending, limit the government, everything will be fine. No, everything's not going to be fine. There are bigger problems at stake in America. And someone has got to go out there - I will - and talk about the things.

[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.

You can see why [the Obama administration doesn't] stand up for religious liberties. It's pretty obvious that they don't think religious liberties are particularly a high priority. When you have the president of the United States referring to the freedom of religion and you have the secretary of State referring to the freedom of religion, not as the freedom of religion but the freedom of worship, you should get very nervous, very nervous.

I accept the fact that the president is a Christian. I just said that when you have a worldview that elevates the Earth above man and says that we can't take those resources because we're going to harm the Earth; by things that frankly are just not scientifically proven, for example, the politicization of the whole global warming debate - this is all an attempt to, you know, to centralize power and to give more power to the government. It's not questioning the president's beliefs in...

It's not about you. It's not about your quality of life. It's not about your jobs. It's about some phony ideal. Some phony theology. Oh, not a theology based on the Bible - a different theology.

When the government gives you rights, not God, but government, when the government goes around saying we're going to give you the right to health care, they can tell you how to exercise that right because now they own you.

To actually do anything [about abortion], then you were a theocrat. You were the pastor-in-chief. You are this radical that wants to try to force your views on everybody else and try to moralize everybody. All you’re doing is standing up for the dignity of every human life, but that doesn’t matter.

I am a Christian, too. And I thank God for forgiveness. [...] And what I say is that this country is a very forgiving country. This country understands that we are all fallen and I'm very hopeful that we will be judged by that standard and not by a higher one on the ultimate day.

We've got a lot of folks who just whisper into the microphone that they're pro-life, and then you have other people who go out and fight the battle and defend life and come out of the trenches and actually work to make sure that the dignity of every human life, innocent human life, in this country is protected. And I've done that.

If we have someone who can go out [...] and appeal to the voters that have been left behind by a Democratic Party that wants to make them dependent instead of valuing their work, we will win this election. Those are the same people that President Obama talked about who cling to their guns and their Bibles.They share our values about faith and family. [...] They understand when families aren’t there to instill values into their children and into their neighbors as Little League coaches, as...

This is something that those of you who were here know: We've been here. We've worked together. We've gotten things done together in this city where, well, let's just say most politicians, when it comes to these issues, tend to put them on the backburner. Well, you know that I have never put social issues and values issues on the backburner.

[...] the Supreme Court of the United States on a recent case said that a man who committed rape could not be killed, could not be subject to the death penalty, yet the child conceived as a result of that rape could be. That to me sounds like a country that doesn’t have its morals correct. That child did nothing wrong. That child is - that child is an innocent victim. To be victimized twice would be a horrible thing. It is an innocent human life. It is genetically human from the moment of...

YORK: Senator Santorum? You’re looking incredulous [at Ron Paul's position on defining marriage]. Response?

SANTORUM: Well, it sounds to me like Representative Paul would actually say polygamous marriages are OK. If the state has the right to do it, they have the right to do it. It is not beyond reality, Ron, it is exactly what’s being offered in other states right now. And it’s being litigated in our courts right now, which is exactly how gay marriage came about as we see here in state of...

[Homosexual activists] want to force their worldview on us and they’re using this idea of 'equality,' which is absurd. This has nothing to do with how two people want to live their lives. It has everything to do with an agenda that is ultimately going to destroy the family, weaken the family and weaken our religious liberties in this country. This is going to transform, you know, the left is very enthusiastic about this agenda because it is an opportunity to get after the things that they see...

Not only have I been consistently pro-life, but I've taken the -- you know, I've not just taken the pledge, I've taken the bullets to go out there and fight for this and lead on those issues. [...] A lot of folks run for president as pro-life and then that issue gets shoved to the back burner. I will tell you that the issue of pro-life, the sanctity and dignity of every human life, not just at birth, not just on the issue of abortion, but with respect to the entire life, which I mentioned...

CHRISTIANITY TODAY: How can Christians engage social issues in a way that doesn't come across or isn't seen as hateful or discriminatory?

SANTORUM:If you look at who's out there selling hate, it's not Christian conservatives. Saying we need to respect all human life is not a hate-filled position. Planned Parenthood is there to make money on abortion and to encourage you to have an abortion. We want children to have what's best, mothers and fathers to be in strong and committed relationships....