5 days ago
Santorum clarifies 'theology' remark
(CNN) – Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum on Sunday denied he was questioning President Barack Obama's religious values the previous day when he said the president had a "different theology."
"I wasn't suggesting the president's not a Christian," Santorum said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "I accept the fact that the president is a Christian."
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He added he was referring to what he called the president's "radical environmentalism" when it came to mining for resources in the United States.
"I just said that when you have a world view 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," he said. "The politicization of the whole global warming debate, I mean, this is just all an attempt to centralize power and to give more power to the government."
He later added: "I am talking about his world view or his - the way he approaches problems in this country. And I think they're different than how most people do in America."
At a tea party event on Saturday in Ohio, Santorum suggested Obama leadsbased on a "theology" different from that in the Bible, leaving some wondering whether he was implying that Obama subscribes to a religion other than Christianity.
Speaking to reporters later in the day, he was asked about the comment and attempted to explain his remarks.
"You may want to call it a theology, you may want to call it secular values," he said. "Whatever you want to call it. . . it is a different set of moral values that they are imposing on people who have a constitutional right to have their own values within the church."
The president's re-election campaign has since pounced on his comments. Top campaign adviser and former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on Sunday told reporters in Washington that Santorum's remarks "don't belong in our politics."
"I don't think that's what the American people want from either of the potential Republican nominees," Gibbs said.
– CNN's Chris Welch, Gregory Wallace and Ashley Killough contributed to this report.
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