Cardinal Dolan finally makes sense: Comparing ISIS to Christian terrorists is an 'accurate' analogy

Cardinal Dolan, one of the most conservative and outspoken Catholic leaders in the U.S., on Tuesday echoed President Barack Obama by drawing a "parallel" between ISIS and Christian terrorists.

At the National Prayer Breakfast earlier this year, the president had reminded Christians not to get on a "high horse" while denouncing Islamic terrorism because their religion had also been perverted to justify slavery and the Crusades.

"These extremist do not represent genuine Islamic thought," Dolan told CNN host Chris Cuomo on Tuesday. "Even the majority of temperate, peace-loving Muslims would say, 'I'm afraid they have a particular strand of erroneous Islam.' But I do think they are. They are distorting it."

"You know the parallel I've drawn?" he continued. "And enough people have been kind enough to tell me they think the analogy is accurate. Remember 30-35 years ago with the IRA in Ireland? The IRA claimed to be Catholic. And they were baptized, they had a Catholic identity. What they were doing was a perversion of everything the church stood for."

"The analogy I think is somewhat accurate. These are not pure -- these are not real Muslims."

As the interview ended, Cuomo gave Dolan a chance to weigh in on how the courts repeatedly striking down bans against same-sex marriage in the United States.

"Obviously, we don't take our cue from what's happening politically or legally," Dolan insisted. "We take our cues from divine revelation, from the Bible and from what we believe is planted in the human heart. So, we're going to continue to do that."

"Even with the young Catholics saying they disagree?" Cuomo wondered.

"Oh, yeah," Dolan replied. "Nor do we take our cues from the opinion polls because know that a good number of -- a good chunk of the United States and even a good number of our own people don't agree with us."

"But we feel we have got to be courageous in proclaiming the truth about marriage, and we will do that."

Dolan insisted that he was not familiar with a report commissioned by Pope Francis that called on the Catholic church to recognize the "positive aspects of civil unions and cohabitation.”

"All of us wonder if there is a type of relationship where certain civil rights could be respected that would not rise to a redefinition of marriage," Dolan explained. "And that's what's, of course, you call the civil partnerships."

"I wonder though if we as a church could ever even give a nod to something that we feel and believe with all our heart and soul is not consonant with what God has taught us. That would be a tough thing for us as Catholics to do."

Watch the video below from CNN's New Day, broadcast March 3, 2015.