There are several reasons that I would not vote for Ted Cruz if he were the Republican nominee next year (which I have virtually no expectation he will be, by the way). This is one of them.
Here, via an excerpt from Brian Tashman\’s article at rightwingwatch.org, is Mr. Cruz\’s explanation of how legalized gay marriages will destroy religious freedom:
“We are seeing today profound threats to religious liberty in America, I think the greatest threats we\’ve ever seen,” Cruz told conservative author and talk radio host Eric Metaxas.
Cruz said that the fights over “religious freedom” laws in Indiana and Arkansas were “heartbreaking” examples of how the Democratic Party has “gotten so extreme and so radical in its devotion to mandatory gay marriage that they\’ve decided there’s no room for the religious liberty protected under the First Amendment.”
He added that while “Democrats joined with big business in vilifying an effort to protect our religious liberty,” too many Republican leaders and presidential candidates “ran and hid in the hills.”
“We\’re a nation that was founded by men and women who were fleeing religious oppression and coming to seek out a land where everyone of us could worship God Almighty with all of our hearts, minds and souls, and that is under profound jeopardy today,” Cruz said.
Huh? Wha? That is “logic” through a funhouse mirror.
The last time I checked, religious liberty means being free to engage in or not engage in the exercise of religion. How does legalizing gay marriage inhibit this? It seems to me religious liberty is inhibited when gay marrriage is NOT legalized.
And what in the world is “mandatory” about gay marriage? Can Ted Cruz, or anyone else, name a place in the country where men are forced to marry other men and/or women are forced to marry other women?
Earth to Ted Cruz: The only “mandatory” in this equation is when gay marriage is not legal, thus it is mandatory that gay people not marry each other. Your argument, therefore, is ridiculous.
Look, there are people who agree, and who disagree, with legalizing same-sex marriage. But let\’s be clear about something: it is a simple, immutable truism that prohibiting gay marriage inhibits freedom, and allowing it expands freedom.
Legalizing gay marriage neither prevents heterosexuals from getting married, nor forces even one man or woman to marry another man or woman. It does not prevent anyone from doing anything. Its entire effect is to ALLOW people to marry as they choose, rather than preventing them from doing so.
That is the DEFINITION of freedom.
There are other good reasons to not vote for a Cruz presidential candidacy. But, for my money, you can put this one right up at the top of the list.
