Posted on 05/22/2015 7:46:39 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Thursday that Democrats are putting the homosexual rights agenda ahead of religious liberty.
“The modern Democratic Party has become so radical, so extreme that they have determined that their devotion to mandatory gay marriage in all 50 states trumps any allegiance to religious liberty under the First Amendment,” Cruz said at the Family Research Council’s annual pastor retreat in Washington, D.C.
Cruz, who has already launched his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, spoke to more than 600 pastors from around the country about the recent efforts by Indiana and Arkansas legislators to pass bills that mirrored the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993.
Gay rights activists fought those efforts, claiming that protecting religious liberty allowed discrimination against homosexuals seeking services for same-sex weddings.
“Just a few weeks ago, we saw the battles that played out in Indiana and Arkansas,” Cruz said. “It was heartbreaking.
“It was almost a perfect storm. The modern Democratic Party has become so radical, so extreme that they have determined that their devotion to mandatory gay marriage in all 50 states trumps any allegiance to religious liberty under the First Amendment,” he said.
Cruz, who was introduced by his pastor father, Rafael Cruz, said the United States was founded on religious liberty.
“We are a nation that was formed by men and women fleeing oppression and coming to seek out a land where we could seek out and worship the Lord God Almighty with all of hearts, minds and souls,” Cruz said.
FRC’s annual pastor retreat is a way to empower faith leaders to use their spiritual leadership in the public square, according to its website.
“We believe that the problems we face in our communities and our nation are not just political and cultural, they are spiritual in nature,” the Watchmen on the Wall website states, citing Ephesians 6:10-13. “Consequently, these problems ultimately require a spiritual solution administered by spiritual leadership. That is why we are championing pastors to transform America.”
I didn't know that either... and I agree with you 100%
People will be thrown in jail touting religious freedom before sanctimonious homo marriage is negated.
People need to understand that using the power of the State to punish Christians is THE WHOLE POINT.
And, sure, they can keep using the phrase “religious freedom”, but no other faith is or will be targeted.
I’d reason that an addiction to hate is behind it.
The rest of us need to be circumspect lest the inevitable clashes with it drag us down to its level (which will then allow it to beat us up with experience).
The fight of Jesus Christ is a grace fight. It doesn’t look like worldly fights, which are damnation fights. It would look ludicrous were one not thoroughly convinced of the power and the intent of God.
Some Republicans as well.
Exactly. But it’s fun to call them on it and watch them squirm.
Not exactly, I do know what Ted is trying to say, but Gay marriage AND abortion, plus raise taxes are Democrats unholy sacraments.
Daily Digest Ted Cruz Ping! Didn't matter. The gays won.
Cruz's statement is probably true. The Democrats are opportunists, and the smell opportunity in being pro-gay-marriage now. They didn't smell it 8 years ago, when Obama believed that a marriage was "between one man and one woman", but sentiment has changed, and now they see the parade coming down the street they are going to run and get in front of it.
I realize that Cruz isn't really campaigning against gay marriage here, he's standing up for the "florist" case.
Did Cruz vote for TPA?
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