Santorum on Obama's 'Jesus' Tax Talk: 'I've Read the Bible & I Must Have Missed That Passage

We recently explored how conservative and liberal Christians view Jesus and his potential opinions on a wide-range of issues.

Yesterday, during his National Prayer Breakfast address, President Obama joined the chorus and made his own claims about Jesus' purportedly liberal views on taxation. So far, the response to his insinuation the Christianity's Messiah would support upper-income tax increases has been intriguing.

(Related: Obama at Prayer Breakfast: Jesus Would Want Us to Tax the Rich)

Sen. Orrin Hatch's (R-Utah), for one, had an extremely comical reaction to Obama's comments on the matter. In a floor speech on Thursday, the devout Mormon, had an important reminder for Obama.

"In 2008, the president declared that his nomination was the world historical moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal," Hatch said. "Someone needs to remind the president that there was only one person who walked on water and he did not occupy the Oval Office"

But the congressman wasn't done there.

"[Obama] suggested to the attendees that Jesus would have supported his latest tax-the-rich schemes," he continued. "With due respect to the president, he ought to stick to public policy. I think most Americans would agree that the gospels are concerned with weightier matters than effective tax rates.”

Watch his speech, below:

Then there was GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum who also railed against Obama's claims on Jesus and taxation.

"He made the claim that his policies of taxing the rich is authorized by the Bible, that he is doing what is biblically called for by taxing the rich, by having the government tax the rich," Santorum said at a campaign stop in Fallon, Nevada. "Now, I've read the Bible, and I must have missed that passage."

He went on to say that the Obama administration "attacks religion" and that it attempts to "cloak" itself in religion. Santorum told his audience that the administration does this "in order to take your money."

During Obama's National Prayer Breakfast speech, his exact words about Jesus were as follows:

"And I think to myself, if I’m willing to give something up as somebody who’s been extraordinarily blessed and give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy, I actually thinks that’s going to make economic sense.

But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’ teaching that, ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.’"

This is yet another example of theological and political views clashing on the public stage. Obama's comments, while startling to conservatives, are shared by many others in America's religious left community.