Santorum Calls Charleston Shooting ‘Assault On Religious Liberty’

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Presidential candidate and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) on Thursday called the attack by a white gunman on a historic black church in Charleston, S.C. part of a broader assault on “religious liberty” in America.

“It’s obviously a crime of hate. Again, we don’t know the rationale, but what other rationale could there be?” Santorum said on the New York radio station AM 970.

“You’re sort of lost that somebody could walk into a Bible study in a church and indiscriminately kill people,” he added.

Santorum called for a broader pushback against the “assaults” on religious liberty.

“You talk about the importance of prayer in this time and we’re now seeing assaults on our religious liberty we’ve never seen before. It’s a time for deeper reflection beyond this horrible situation,” he said.

The shooting on Wednesday left nine people dead, including pastor Clementa Pinckney, who also served as a Democratic South Carolina state senator.

h/t WaPo

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