In a shameless effort to court evangelical Christian voters - or possibly a display of he's mental illness - Ted Cruz is playing up the theme that Christians are facing persecution and that the nation faces the choice of allowing gay rights or "religious freedom" for Christians. The irony, of course, is that for centuries in America it is the Christians who have persecuted those of other faith traditions from Native Americans who were depicted as pagan savages to the unofficial establishment of Christianity as America's quasi-established religion. What's really going on is the hysteria of Christofascists over the fact that their ability to persecute others is being belated and deservedly eroded. Right Wing Watch looks at Cruz's anti-gay harangue. Here are highlights:
During a presidential candidate forum hosted by an Iowa homeschool group yesterday, Ted Cruz lashed out at the gay community for waging a “jihad” against so-called religious freedom laws in states such as Arkansas and Indiana.Cruz, speaking at a panel moderated by conservative talk show host Steve Deace, who regularly castigates the “Rainbow Jihad,” told the crowd of homeschooling activists that they should fear “the jihad that is being waged right now in Indiana and Arkansas, going after people of faith who respect the biblical teaching that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.”By condemning this gay “jihad,” Cruz said, he could “bring people together” to defend religious freedom.Other likely candidates present at the forum included Gov. Bobby Jindal and past Iowa caucus victors former Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Sen. Rick Santorum.
As the Dallas Morning News reports, this was not the first of Cruz's hysterical anti-gay rants:
On his first Iowa stop as a presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz warned Wednesday that a Supreme Court ruling to legalize gay marriage nationwide would be “fundamentally illegitimate.”
In the hour-long appearance at Morningside College in Sioux City, in Iowa’s conservative northwest corner, Cruz kept a tight focus on social issues even as he presented himself as a candidate who can appeal to many facets of the GOP.
“Religious liberty is not some fringe view. It is the basis of this country,” he said. He blamed gay rights activists and Democrats for the recent uproar over an Indiana law that would protect businesses who refuse to provide certain services on religious grounds.
“Every one of us is concerned about the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision likely coming in June,” he said. “The first thing and I think the most important thing every one of us can do, is pray. Lift up in prayer.”
He reiterated his vow to press for a constitutional amendment that would clarify the power of state legislatures to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. If the high court does legalize gay marriage nationwide, he added, he would prod Congress to strip federal courts of jurisdiction over the issue, a rarely invoked legislative tool.
Cruz’s proposal for a constitutional amendment leaving the issue to state legislatures all but ensures a patchwork, with bans in some states and legalized same-sex marriage in others.
Asked about that after speaking to the crowd, Cruz likened the situation to marijuana laws and other laws pertaining to marriage.
Some states set a minimum age of 16 to marry. Others say 17 or 18, he noted, saying: “We have 50 states that adopt different standards.”
He hasn’t explained how, in his system, same-sex couples married in Vermont would be treated if they move to Texas.
What I personally find so bizarre about Cruz is that he is prostituting himself to evangelical Christians, many of who don't even view him as a "real American" because he is Hispanic - plus he was born in Canada. If being born in Hawaii makes Obama not an American, WTF does being born in Canada make Cruz?
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