Thousands will see former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee this weekend, but it won’t be at a campaign event or on television.
The two Republicans – who are both eyeing 2016 presidential bids -- will be appearing in thousands of churches on Sunday in a video protesting gay marriage. The short film, released by the conservative Family Research Council, was sent out to 45,000 pastors across the country and will be played in thousands of churches nationwide, the group said this week.
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The nearly seven minute video -- produced by Santorum’s film company, Echolight -- portrays the Supreme Court’s hearing on gay marriage as an assault on religious liberties. Oral arguments in the case begin next week and ahead of it, FRC President Tony Perkins is urging religious conservatives to oppose the court’s potential to rule in favor of gay marriage.
Both Santorum and Huckabee appear briefly to express quiet outrage over the issue.
“I don’t think the founders could have ever conceived of a time when someone was told you can’t practice your trade, you can’t engage in your business if somehow the government doesn't like what you think or doesn't accept your faith point of view,” Huckabee says as the video documents the stories of a baker and florist who were sued for refusing to provide services to same-sex weddings.
“Let’s talk about a wall of celebration, so the state could not tell people of faith how to live their lives,” Santorum adds.
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Both Republicans will be in Iowa this weekend, speaking to religious conservatives at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Spring Kick-Off – a candidate forum featuring nine major conservative names including Sen. Ted Cruz, Gov. Scott Walker, and Sen. Rand Paul. And while this weekend’s event will put conservatives in a room with more than a thousand religious conservatives in a crucial early voting state, the FRC video may have an even wider reach with the very voters Santorum and Huckabee need to mount a second presidential bid, though the FRC did not respond to emails asking how many times the video had been downloaded so far or how many churches were expected to show it.
"We are asking that churches take time in their worship services to pray for the Supreme Court and the attorneys presenting the arguments, that truth would prevail and that natural marriage would be honored by the arguments and by the decision of the Justices,” Perkins said in a statement.