It’s easy to be a coward as a New York Republican. You’re badly outnumbered and, unless you are willing to get yelled at frequently, it’s more painless to acquiesce to the general opinions of the day in polite society — to murmur tacit agreement — than to pull the pin on the hand grenade by disagreeing, however meekly.

I have been a supreme coward lately when it comes to Rick Santorum. He’s not my candidate for President.  He’s to the political right of me. And if he were the Republican nominee for President this year, which I don’t believe he will be, I’m pretty sure most of my clients would lose their under-ballot races.

But Mr. Santorum is not crazy, and on that point I have failed to defend him. What Rick Santorum is is a devout Catholic. Last I checked there were 65 million Catholics in America, approximately one out of every five of us. And those Catholics who attend mass on Sundays are taught week in and week out exactly what Rick Santorum has been talking about on the campaign trail. The difference is most no longer practice it. I’m certain that other religions are preaching similar things.

Don’t get me wrong, I would prefer that the former Keystone State senator talk  about issues other than contraception and Satan, but a trip to the sanitarium is no way in order for Mr. Santorum. Suggesting so is unfair — as is tacitly acknowledging that sentiment.

When the economy was rapidly collapsing in 2008, I had a nightly conversation with a friend and former client about what it would take to get America back on track. I kept coming back to spirituality. If the country doesn’t have a deep and abiding sense of its values and religious traditions it will remain lost chasing fool’s gold.  Materialism and humanism cannot sustain us as a nation. We need a North Star.

Those are the things Rick Santorum has been talking about, however reactionary and unwelcome his narrative may sound to some ears.

Virtually every wagging tongue out there has been saying that Mr. Santorum has dragged the national conversation for Republicans into the path of a speeding train.  I disagree. He may not always be artful in how he presents his convictions, but they deserve to be aired and debated. The myth of sex without consequence is an important topic whether we want to talk about it or not.

Rick Santorum is not tearing the Republican Party apart. He is strengthening it in the long run. He is strengthening it now. Like it or not.