If you watched the movie “The Exorcist,” you know that the Catholic Church believes there is an active evil in the world that at times must be confronted. Thus, the Church trains certain priests to perform rites that expel evil from troubled human beings. Exorcisms are rare, but they happen.

Enter Rick Santorum, a devout Catholic who sometimes uses his faith-based beliefs to define public policy. That is causing fear and loathing among the secular press, for whom all religious-based judgments are the very definition of evil.