Posted on 06/27/2015 6:32:59 PM PDT by VinL
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz on Saturday said county clerks in Texas should "absolutely" be able to opt out of issuing same-sex marriage licenses if they have religious objections.
"Ours is a country that was built by men and women fleeing religious oppression," Cruz said in an interview with The Texas Tribune, "and you look at the foundation of this country — it was to seek out a new land where anyone of us could worship the Lord God Almighty with all of our hearts, minds and souls, without government getting in the way."
The interview followed a major speech here in which he eviscerated the U.S. Supreme Court for its decision Friday to legalize gay marriage in all 50 states.
"We should respect diversity and tolerance," Cruz added. "There is this liberal intolerance and fascism that seeks to force Bible-believing Christians to violate their faith, and I think it makes no sense."
Cruz's comments came a day after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick asked Attorney General Ken Paxton for an opinion on whether county clerks and justices of the peace can refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses or perform same-sex weddings. Texas already has a law in effect that protects clergy members who refuse to perform gay weddings due to their religious beliefs.
"There’s no right in society to force a Jewish rabbi to perform a Christian wedding ceremony," Cruz said Saturday. "There’s no right in society to force a Muslim imam to perform a Jewish wedding ceremony."
Cruz, like many Republicans, has reacted to the Supreme Court ruling by raising potential consequences for religious freedom, such as whether a baker should be forced to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple if he has religious objections. On Saturday, Cruz declined to say whether the issues of religious liberty were urgent enough to warrant a special session of the Texas Legislature, a demand of some social conservatives.
“Look, I’m going to leave questions of state law and governance to our elected leaders there," Cruz said. "The last thing they need is a federal officeholder sticking his nose into matters of state legislation."
Better yet, get the state out of the business of issuing marriage licenses.
We have opt-out in NC (recently became law).
You will not be able to opt out. A homosexual can force you to do business -- they will bankrupt you and destroy you if you try to opt out.
All the strategies come together, like they have a plan. Because they do.
But that was before this week's US Supreme Court ruling.
Churches can render this irrelevant tomorrow by simply refusing to solemnize any and all state “marriages.”
Caesar has defined his sodomite marriage, let him solemnize it.
And, that may be the Gay Mafia’s undoing. The extreme element can’t control itself- when out of the closet, they have to take over the house.
They go after religion liberty, and they will shake the hornet’s nest.
One guy on the national stage that isnt afraid to stand against this.
SCOTUS has written in its own power from the start, and we have allowed them to live out this fantasy that was never granted to it by the founders. They have grown fat and happy with their lifetime appointments, and hubris has rotted out the legitimacy we have as allocated to it because we have bought the myth that they are an impartial group that would never engage in such naked disregard to the constitution.
Dred Scott, Row v. Wade, and Kelo, along with a slew of others, shows us that this band of demented idiots cannot simply exist as a virtual council of lords with no recourse outside of a constitutional amendment. They can deiced 5-4 to upend out civilization, but we have to win 2/3rds votes in two houses of Congress and then 2/3rd of all the states to fix it?
This farce needs to end. Cruz should make it a cornerstone of his run.
“You will not be able to opt out. A homosexual can force you to do business — they will bankrupt you and destroy you if you try to opt out.”
Sure you can opt out. You just have to be smart about it.
Imagine how differently the baker case would have worked out if the bakers in question had prayerfully accepted the order. I can think of any of a hundred unfortunate things that could have prevented the order from being fulfilled.
We are called to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Nowhere in that is it stated or implied that we are to act as punching bags.
> You will not be able to opt out. A homosexual can force you to do business — they will bankrupt you and destroy you if you try to opt out.
The next time a homo demands that you bake a cake for them put a healthy dose of exlax in it. It will make their wedding night one they’ll never forget for sure.
someone in the government said that the clerks who refused must resign...
“Churches can render this irrelevant tomorrow by simply refusing to solemnize any and all state “marriages.”
Caesar has defined his sodomite marriage, let him solemnize it”.
Spot on!
And lose tax exempt status.
We’ll see who is willing to do that.
Right. But, in Texas, the talk is that the Legislature should pass a law that would allow a clerk discretion based on a religious belief.
If the Legislature did that, then, in Texas, the clerk wouldn’t have to resign.. Of course, that will be challenged in Court. And that will set the stage for the ultimate showdown that has to come one way or the other-— religious liberty vs. the secular socialist Washington governing elite that wants to do away with religion.
This rogue govt is all about prosecutorial discretion...
Time to play it back on them. Clerks need not refuse... they should just practice Justice of the Peace discretion.
I don’t think that course would be a very wise thing to do; you would be opening up yourself to civil litigation regardless of your stand.
I think the best thing for a business to do is straightforwardly tell these customers that their business is not appreciated, but you will provide the service anyway, under compulsion. Turn the tables back on their liberal mindset, and maybe they will see how ‘nice’ and ‘tolerant’ they really are.
A neighbor and I were talking about going black market as a means of choosing who to do business with.
As a Catholic I would use blessed salt and holy water. The reception would be memorable.
Sadly, I don’t believe there will ever be any option for someone doing a “government” job (from city/town to county to state to federal) ever being able to “opt out” of doing a homosexual marriage because they have legitimate religious objections. That has and will continue to be an indignity of holding such employment. It isn’t right, but that is the nature of the beast. It makes me sick to my soul to have to concede that. It will take a new POTUS (like Cruz) that has the backing of a House and Senate to change this. Until then....?
What MOST concerns me are “private businesses” being harassed by ANY level of government because they refuse to offer services to homosexuals if it conflicts with their religious beliefs. That is clearly an infringement of 1st Amendment rights. IF homosexuals want to boycott a business...so be it. However, NO level of government bureacrate should aid and abeit such a thing. Any level of government that has or attempts to force a business to violate 1st Amendment beliefs (or passes any such legislation to do so) is violating the COTUS and should be themselves prosecuted. On this point stand firm.
The churches should contract directly with bakers, caterers and florists. Those businesses could refuse off the street requests for services.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.