Romney: Obama wants to 'establish a religion called secularism'

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Monday said that President Barack Obama had taken his war on faith to the next level by wanting to establish a new "religion" for the purpose of rejecting all religious doctrines.

At an event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a supporter asked the candidate what the Obama administration's motive was for mandating that the health insurance provided by all religious institutions cover contraceptives for women.

"I think there is in this country a war on religion," Romney replied. "I think there is a desire to establish a religion in America known as secularism."

"They gave it a lot of thought and they decided to say that in this country that a church -- in this case, the Catholic Church -- would be required to violate its principles and its conscience and be required to provide contraceptives, sterilization and morning after pills to the employees of the church. ... We are now all Catholics. Those of us who are people of faith recognize this is -- an attack on one religion is an attack on all religion."

He added: "It's one more reason we need to get rid of Obamacare. It's also one more reason we need to get rid of Obama."

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), who was campaigning with Romney, explained that Obama's philosophy was to treat "our Constitutional rights as revocable privilege from our government."

"If that's what this president is willing to do in a tough election year, imagine what he'll do after the election if he never has to face the voters ever again," Ryan warned. "We should never give our government that kind of power."

Dictionary.com defines secularism as "a system of political or social philosophy that rejects all forms of religious faith and worship."

Watch the video below from CNN, broadcast on April 2, 2012.