Rick Santorum put an end to the grueling process by exiting the race for the Republican presidential nomination this week, but more importantly, he eased fears our government would be thrown into a time warp.

We can all sympathize with Santorum’s wishes to leave the race and tend to the health of his 3-year-old daughter, Bella. We can also breathe a sigh of relief our modern democracy will not be subject to Santorum’s outdated beliefs. The former candidate’s positions, personified by his pass collection of sweater vests, predate most voters and have put him out of touch with main stream America.

Santorum’s positions seem to be an attempt to throw the party back into arguments we thought were settled long ago. If elected president, Santorum was committed to overturning Roe v. Wade, saying even women who are rape victims should just ‘make the best of a bad situation.’

Santorum also does not believe human emissions of carbon dioxide have led to global climate change, despite the 97 percent of American scientists who beg to differ. He wants our public schools to teach intelligent design, again in the face of scientific evidence.

These positions are better suited to go up against John F. Kennedy than Barrack Obama. They stem from an even more alarming belief that religion should be a major part of politics. ‘I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,’ Santorum said earlier on the campaign trail.

While the First Amendment clearly protects religion from being unduly subject to the laws of government, Santorum’s proposal that religion should influence our laws is a direct contradiction of this country’s founding principles.

For example, Santorum’s stance on birth control demonstrates how he would gladly welcome religion into policymaking.

‘I don’t think (contraception) works. I think it’s harmful to women,’ Santorum said, closely following fellow social conservatives. ‘I think it’s harmful to our society to have a society that says that sex outside of marriage is something that should be encouraged or tolerated.’

Santorum adamantly came out against Obama’s proposal for religious groups who serve the public to provide preventative care to women.

Obama compromised on this issue by providing public aid to pay for this care, effectively taking the responsibility away from the religious institutions. Only requiring they make the option known and available. But many conservatives, including Santorum, continue to hold this infringes on their religious beliefs.

Instead, Santorum wishes to take the right to birth control away from women in these religious communities because of his own religious belief that contraception is wrong. Essentially, he would base the law on his religious beliefs rather than the scientific fact that birth control can improve the health of women in a wide variety of ways, or the public polls that show an overwhelming percentage of women approve of the use of preventative contraception.

With Santorum out of the race in 2012, we now see his extreme conservative beliefs do not yet dominate public opinion. However, they certainly seem to be making a comeback. In fact, in just the last three years, the number of Americans who said climate change is at least partly the result of human activities has dropped 11 percent. To achieve success in the future, we cannot return to these old policies and disproven opinions.

We especially cannot afford to invite religion into policymaking. This is a serious concern that most of us thought was long gone from the world of politics, and it must be addressed regardless of who turns out to be our next president.

Stephen Fox is a graduate student studying for his master’s degree in entrepreneurship and a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. His columns appear weekly. He can be reached at smfox03@syr.edu.   

Published on April 14, 2012 at 12:00 pm