WATCH: Rick Santorum Channels Westboro to Support 'Religious Liberty'

Former Pennsylvania senator and presidential hopeful Rick Santorum used an antigay slur on national television this Easter Sunday while discussing the backlash over recently enacted Religious Freedom Restoration Acts in Indiana and Arkansas.

Speaking to Norah O'Donnell for Face the Nation on CBS Sunday, Santorum claimed that "tolerance is a two-way street," then used the slogan of the infamous antigay Westboro Baptist Church to illustrate why businesses should have a right to decide who they do and do not serve.

"If you're a print shop, and you are a gay man, should you be forced to print 'God Hates Fags' for the Westboro Baptist Church because they hold those signs up?" Santorum asked. "And this is really the case here: Should the government force you to do that? And that's what these cases are all about. This is about the government coming in and saying 'No, we're going to make you do this."

When asked if he believes the so-called religious freedom bills are gaining popularity because of the growing number of U.S. states that have enacted marriage equality (currently at 37 and the District of Columbia), Santorum acknowledged that attitudes are changing on the issue -- and very nearly admitted that denying service to LGBT people on religious grounds is indeed discrimination, before catching himself.

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"When those attitudes change, we run into a whole bunch of new issues," said the former (and likely future) GOP presidential aspirant. "And so the question is, How do we deal with that, and respecting people on both sides of the issues? And I think that's where you have to differentiate between discrimination against the person, because of who they are, and discrimination -- no, not even discrimination. And unwillingness to participate in actions because they're inconsistent with your religious beliefs."

Santorum also lamented that the Republican governors in Indiana and Arkansas signed amended bills that mirrored the federal RFRA (for which Santorum voted) rather than the broader legislation initially passed in both states that LGBT advocates say amounted to a wide-reaching "license to discriminate."

Watch the clip from Sunday's show below.