Evangelical activists praise Santorum, rip Romney for ‘homophilia’

A trio of South Carolina evangelicals threw their support behind Rick Santorum on Wednesday with a provocative statement that praises the former Pennsylvania senator for putting his name to “extremely politically-incorrect statements about homosexuality, heterosexuality and marital fidelity,” while rebuking front-runner Mitt Romney for “homophilia” and suggesting that his Mormon faith is “heretical.”

“Rick Santorum clearly sees homosexuality for what the Bible, Rome, Bob Jones University and even Salt Lake City have always regarded it, as a very serious form of sexual sin like adultery or incest,” the Rev. Huey Mills, a Lancaster pastor and principal of a Christian school, said in a statement. “Romney’s position on homosexuality, on the other hand, is probably a bigger scandal to traditionalist Mormons than it is to those of us who’ve always seen Mormonism, with its interesting historic approaches to sexuality and polygamy, as pretty heretical.

“In obedience to the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, most South Carolinians and I have a sane and healthy homophobia, while Mitt Romney has a very bad case of homophilia,” Mills said. “The man very clearly endorses dangerous, unhealthy homosexual conduct.”

Joining Mills were Lt. Col. Ray Moore, a retired U.S. Army Reserve chaplain who lives in Columbia, and Molotov Mitchell, an evangelical Christian video artist who has produced YouTube videos highlighting Newt Gingrich’s history of infidelity.

The endorsement follows a meeting of evangelical leaders in Texas, who voted 89 to 25 last weekend to support Santorum over rival Newt Gingrich. Prominent religious activist Tony Perkins will appear with Santorum on Thursday in Charleston.