It is well to keep in mind, of course, is that the word “God” is not in “our founding documents,” i.e. the Constitution. “Religious freedom,” however, is in both our “founding documents,” and in the Democratic National Platform.

Ryan, who is Catholic, spoke Thursday at Georgetown University as he delivered the Whittington Lecture, established in honor of a former professor who was killed when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. Ahead of the speech, dozens of faculty members sent Ryan a letter criticizing his “continuing misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few.

As I tried to make clear on Rogan’s podcast, we know that intolerance within the Muslim world extends far beyond the membership of “extremist” groups. Recent events in Afghanistan demonstrate, yet again, that ordinary Afghans grow far more incensed when a copy of the Qur’an gets defaced than when their own children are accidentally killed by our bombs—or, indeed, than when they are intentionally murdered. I doubt there is a more ominous skewing of priorities to be found in this world.

This is exactly the reverse of the thinking in the Western world. In the Western world the separation between church and state came because the church controlled the state prior to the United States being formed. What he’s saying is almost the mirror opposite. This is really beautiful. He’s saying that in Islam religion has become a slave of the state and in order to liberate the Muslim you need to separate religion and the state, so that you can liberate the religion, and therefore liberate the nation, and you liberate the individual as a result.

One of the reasons I think Santorum is talking about religion is also to shine a bright light on his opponent Mitt Romney’s reticence to talk about religion. So it’s not just about getting the record ‘straight’ on JFK and attacking Democrats. It has the added benefit of shining a bright light on the fact that Mitt Romney … is very hesitant to address the issue.