As Benjamin Rush said, " The only foundation for a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.
What Santorum said was clear to anybody with half a brain and non statist tendencies. He was simply making the point that Kennedy’s statement on absolute separation was garbage and that people of faith and non faith but had every right to assemble and be heard in the public square. Damn constitution always gets in the way of authoritarian statist pukes.
That is ABSOLUTELY the issue.
If Santorum meant something besides what his words clearly said then I hope I will hear him issue correction.
You are wrong - “Church” means as you have described. “church” means the whole body of believing Christians, not a particular institution.
Santorum was obviously using “church” and its “body of believing Christians” meaning, not “Church” meaning a specific (in his case Catholic) institution.