(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) criticized President Barack Obama yesterday for using religion to justify increasing taxes and for politicizing the National Prayer Breakfast.

Speaking at the annual National Prayer Breakfast, Obama talked about his goal for the wealthy to pay more in taxes.

“And when I talk about shared responsibility, it’s because I genuinely believe that in a time when many folks are struggling, at a time when we have enormous deficits, it’s hard for me to ask seniors on a fixed income, or young people with student loans, or middle-class families who can barely pay the bills to shoulder the burden alone,” the president said. “And I think to myself, if I’m willing to give something up as somebody who’s been extraordinarily blessed, and give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy, I actually think that’s going to make economic sense.”

“But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required,’” Obama continued. “It mirrors the Islamic belief that those who’ve been blessed have an obligation to use those blessings to help others, or the Jewish doctrine of moderation and consideration for others.”

Obama’s comment also come after Democrats, the media and even some Republicans have attacked Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney for recently saying in a CNN interview, “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it. I'm not concerned about the very rich; they're doing just fine. I'm concerned about the very heart of America.”

Hatch, in a Senate floor speech, criticized Obama’s speech for veering away from the usually nonpartisan prayer breakfast.

“Just this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast, the president has took what has always been a non-partisan opportunity for national unity and used it to promote his political agenda,” Hatch said. “He suggested to the attendees that Jesus would have supported his latest tax-the-rich scheme. With due respect to the president, he ought to stick with public policy. I think most Americans would agree that the gospels are concerned with weightier matters than effective tax rates.”

Hatch went on to criticize Obama for the administration’s recent mandate over the objection of Catholic organizations that all employers must purchase government approved insurance plans that pay for contraception and abortion-inducing drugs.

“As long the the president has decided to assume the role of theologian and chief, he would do well to put tax policy aside and consider the impact of one of his latest Obamacare mandates,” Hatch said.

Hatch later said, “In 2008 the president declared that his nomination was the grand historical moment when the oceans would cease to rise and the world would begin to heal. Someone needs to remind the president that there is only one person who walked on water and he did not occupy the Oval Office.”