Rick Santorum says 'secular church' is being imposed on America

Tony Perkins (R), former U.S. senator Rick Santorum (Center) and Dennis E. Terry Sr. at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church in Greenwell Springs, Louisiana March 18, 2012.Photo: Reuters/Sean Gardner

Former Senator Rick Santorum says the current administration is threatening people's liberties by instigating a secular theocracy.

In an interview with the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, Santorum accused the government of deliberately attacking those who do not accept the "secular orthodoxy" of the Obama administration.

"For the first time in the history of our country, the government is attacking people ... for not accepting the secular orthodoxy that this administration wants to put forward, criticising people for holding biblical truth and counselling them in a biblically coherent way," Santorum claimed.

He pointed to attacks on laws designed to protect employees' rights to observe their faith in the workplace.

"Those things which were unanimously passed are now being fought against," Santorum lamented.

Santorum referred to bills in Indiana and Arkansas that were passed and then amended in order to add an anti-discrimination clause to prevent discrimination against members of the LGBT community.

Both bills, referred to as Religious Freedom Restoration Acts or RFRAs, aimed to prevent the government from infringing upon a person's religious freedom by prohibiting lawsuits against anyone who conducted business according to their religious beliefs.

The RFRAs were amended by their respective state legislative bodies in response to criticism that the laws would be used by certain parties to discriminate against those people or groups that their religious beliefs did not agree with.

Santorum concluded his statement by warning that a "secular church" is being forced on the United States.

"We have now the secular church that is being imposed on this country and anybody that defects is subject to persecution and prosecution," he said.

Santorum warned that this secular church is "a very serious threat to liberty in America."