A man who may be testing the waters for a 2012 run for the White House has a few thoughts on what he considers to be serious challenges facing Christians in general — and Catholics in particular.

Here’s former Senator Rick Santorum, in the Philadelphia Inquirer this morning:

What do liberal proposals in Congress and state legislatures on marriage, health care, welfare, and employment rights have in common? All will profoundly damage two of our country’s most important rights: freedom of conscience and belief.

These freedoms safeguard the foundations of the moral code by which we have successfully governed our country and ourselves. Our society and government’s stake in these threshold freedoms was one reason I started a bipartisan Senate working group on religious freedom and, with Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.), sponsored the Workplace Religious Freedom Act in 2005.

The left’s continuing hostility to Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular is on gaudy display today. It can be seen in Connecticut legislators’ attempt to strip Catholic bishops of their authority over local parishes and in New York legislators’ retroactive extension of the statute of limitations on sexual abuse allegations.

It can be seen also in the overreaching enforcement of existing laws elsewhere. Massachusetts forced Catholic Charities out of the adoption business after the organization refused to place children in the homes of same-sex “married” couples. Catholic pharmacists have lost their jobs in some states because of laws that would force them to violate their consciences by selling the morning-after pill.

There’s much more at the link.