The Roman Catholic Church is a hierarchical institution if there ever was one. Nobody does anything without consulting a superior. Eventually, that would lead to His Holiness. And this time he has gone too far.

The past six weeks of political sparring over the White House’s contraception mandate have brought the issue of religious liberty-and debates about its scope and relationship to other rights-to the fore of national consciousness. Over the past month, American Catholic bishops, alongside prominent politicians (including presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich), have declared that the White House regulation which requires religiously affiliated organizations like hospitals, schools, and social service agencies to provide birth control to their employees at no cost, violates these organizations’ religious liberty.

On his Fox News program earlier this week, Bill O’Reilly asked me if President Obama was using the ongoing Limbaugh story as a way to paint the Republicans as waging a “war on women.”  Well, of course.  What a gift!  The most popular conservative radio host in America calls a law school student,  a slut and a prostitute for lobbying for contraception to be included in a health care plan?  Any politician would run with that. And Limbaugh didn’t just stop while he was behind: He insulted Fluke more than 50 times over three days. He suggested that women who support her make videos of their sexual relations so that people could see them.  In an interview with me, Fluke said Limbaugh, “said I was having so much sex that he was surprised I was able to walk to Capitol Hill.”

When James Carville first proclaimed, “It’s the economy, stupid,” it became the path to Bill Clinton’s successful run for the presidency in 1992.

Twenty years later with America mired in a far-worse economy, Rick Santorum is riding a very different wave as social issues have so far trumped the economic worries of the GOP base, particularly evangelicals.

House Bill 825 proposes to ban the use of any legal code established outside the United States in U.S. courtrooms. While it is largely understood that the primary target of the legislation was sharia, or Islamic law, the expansive bill has drawn unexpected criticism from other groups that are concerned that, as written, it could easily be interpreted to ban the use of halacha, Jewish law, and other Catholic canon laws. Muslim advocates had already condemned the bill, as they’ve done with the dozens of state-level bills that have explicitly or implicitly targeted Islamic law. But Jewish groups were also speaking out, saying that the law could limit their ability to settle family matters like wills and divorces according to their religious guidelines. Catholic officials also voiced concerns that bills like these could prevent the Roman Catholic Church (based in Italy) from owning parish buildings and schools. Business leaders also added their voices to the clamor against the bill, citing concerns that it could hurt international business relations. Deciding to reevaluate their approach, the bill’s proponents sent the bill back to committee.

Without extensive polling about what voters care about, he has taken position after position that would guarantee defeat in the general election.

Opposition led by the American Catholic bishops sparked a wider protest after the Obama administration announced its new requirement that employers provide no-cost birth control to employees through their insurance plans. The White House excused churches and other places of worship from the rule, but refused to grant a similar exemption to religiously affiliated organizations like colleges, hospitals, and social agencies. The ensuing firestorm over whether this was an issue of religious liberty or women’s health resulted in a quicker-than-anticipated compromise. By weeks end, the Obama administration modified the ruling to require insurers rather than objecting religious institutions to pick up the tab, while still upholding the principle of making no-cost birth control available to all women regardless of their employer.

A milestone in the evolution of this rhetoric occurred in 2007 when Mitt Romney likened secularism to radical Jihadism in a memorable speech.