Former congressman Todd Akin said last week that the firestorm over his comments about how women’s bodies “shut down” pregnancies in cases of “legitimate rape” was all part of a spiritual war between good and evil, and obviously, Akin was on the side of good.

Even though Akin ran a television ad during his unsuccessful 2012 U.S. Senate campaign apologizing for his remarks, the Missouri Republican now insists that he always believed in what he said regarding “legitimate rape” and believes that the media, Democrats and Republicans such as Mitt Romney all decided to persecute him because he is a good, Christian, patriotic man.

Akin told David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network that the uproar over his comments was really part of a spiritual war.