Remember the concept of separation of church and state? You know, that vitally important principle that’s spelled out in the Constitution, without which the United States probably wouldn’t even exist?

Well, the Republican Party is working constantly to subvert and undermine this concept, and one of the ways they do it is by fomenting grievances, and by instilling a false sense of victimhood in the religious right base.

And Mormon Mitt Romney is right in there with the worst of the far right fundamentalist Protestants, fear-mongering about a nonexistent “war on religion” in his new campaign advertisement.

Romney’s bogus “war on religion” is not only a blatant lie — as governor of Massachusetts, Romney himself instituted measures almost identical to the Affordable Care Act’s provisions on contraception.

As governor, Romney greatly expanded access publicly-financed contraception through his 2006 health care reform law. The state’s Commonwealth Care, established under Romneycare, offers subsidized, low or no-cost insurance to low-income residents and provides primary and preventive care that includes “family planning services” and prescription contraceptives. In 2005, Romney also “signed a bill that could expand the number of people who get family-planning services, including the morning-after pill” and asked the Department of Health and Human Services to require Catholic hospitals to issue the morning after pill to rape victims.

In fact, the Obamacare rule Romney is now characterizing as an affront to religious liberties is very similar to a 2002 state law he tacitly supported. Like more than two dozen states across the country, Massachusetts required insurers that provide outpatient benefits to cover hormone replacement therapy and all FDA-approved contraceptive methods — well before Obamacare became law. The Massachusetts rule exempts “an employer that is a church or qualified church-controlled organization” from the mandate, but prohibits institutions such as hospitals, universities, and nursing homes from denying their employees birth control coverage.

Not just a lie — a hypocritical lie. Par for the course for Mitt Romney, who’s running the most dishonest, pandering campaign I’ve ever witnessed.