Former Pennsylvania Senator and GOP presidential
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum leaves a speaking engagement in Charleston, S.C., in 2010.
(Bruce Smith - AP)
candidate Rick Santorum, appearing Wednesday night on Piers Morgan’s show, rejected the claim that upholding the Catholic Church’s views on homosexuality constitutes “bigotry.”
After an exchange in which Santorum said that while he does view homosexuality as sinful, he would not want the government to make it illegal, Morgan asked Santorum if his views were “bigoted.”
Morgan: . . . Your views you’ve espoused on this issue are bordering on bigotry, aren’t they?
Santorum: Uh, no. I think just because we disagree on public policy, which is what the debate has been about, which is marriage, doesn’t mean that is bigotry just because you follow a moral code that teaches there’s something wrong. ... Are you suggesting that the Bible and that the Catholic Church is bigoted? Well, if that’s what you believe, fine. I think that ... well, actually I should say not fine, I don’t think it’s fine at all. I think that is contrary to both what we’ve seen in 2,000 years of human history and Western Civilization. Trying to redefine something that has been, that is, seen as wrong, from the standpoint of the church and saying a church is “bigoted” because it holds that opinion that is biblically based, I think is in itself an act of bigotry.
Morgan: Well, I’m a Catholic, too. And I just think that unfortunately we’re in a different era now. We’re in a modern world. And the fact that you know---
Santorum: Piers, Piers, I don’t think the truth changes. I don’t think right and wrong change based on different eras of time. There are some truths that are in fact eternal and are truth and based on nature and nature’s law. And that’s what the church teaches, that’s what the Bible teaches, and that’s what reason dictates. And if you look at it from all of those perspectives, I think it’s a legitimate point of view. I certainly respect people who disagree with it. But I don’t call them bigoted because they disagree with me.
Santorum later had a public argument with a student at Penn State over his view of homosexuality as stated in the television appearance.
This is not the first time that the Catholic father of seven has found himself in the middle of charges of bigotry on the issue of homosexuality. Santorum, in a 2003 interview, said that the legal reasoning endorsing sexual privacy could lead to “man on child, man on dog” relationships. Insulted by Santorum’s claim, some gay rights activists then led a “Google bomb” on his name, meaning that searching “Rick Santorum” now returns sexually suggestive results.
Although Santorum told Morgan that his church says homosexuality is “sinful,” the Catholic Church’s teaching is slightly more nuanced. As one pastoral letter put it in 1986, the church teaches that while homosexual “inclinations” are not a sin, “homosexual activity” is not a morally acceptable option.
Still clashes between religious institutions and gay rights activists — including charges of bigotry and hate speech — have framed many culture war clashes as of late.
The Catholic and Mormon churches, as well as a number of socially conservative Christian organizations, have maintained some of the most vocal opposition to the legalization of gay marriage across the country. New York state recently included recognition of “religious exceptions” in its gay marriage bill, but around the country, battles over the legality of religious discrimination against gays are still playing out. Some gay rights activists have been working to reframe the conversation within religious communities, including rejecting the notion that God views homosexuality as a sin. (For one example of that religious framing, read Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson’s series for On Faith, “What does the Bible really say about homosexuality?”)
More On Faith and homosexuality:
Debra Haffner: No ‘gay cure’ is necessary
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