Indeed. I would go further and say that Cruz does not appear to have a religion—at least in the sense that a religion is a phenomenon that encourages people to be nice and cooperate with one another. Rather, what he has is better characterized as a mass movement. The book that best describes the phenomenon he has wrapped himself up in is not The Bible, but Eric Hoffer's The True Believer.
Now that is a book to start the New Year with. Thank you for the introduction.