If gay marriage is legally viewed as a “civil rights issue,” as may happen with the Supreme Court’s ruling on the subject in June, then it becomes a broader religious liberty concern, not just a marriage issue, said Reverend Rafael Cruz, adding that then pastors will have to choose between obeying an “unjust” law and obeying God and potentially going to prison.
Pastor Cruz, who is the father of Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), made his remarks during an interview with conservative leader Phyllis Schlafly on her radio program “Eagle Forum Live.”
“We need to realize that the attack on marriage is more than just an attack on marriage, it actually goes to the heart of religious freedom,” said Pastor Cruz.
“Because, you see, what is going to come next -- and this is part of the danger of what may happen out of the Supreme Court in June -- is that if marriage of anybody-with-anybody becomes a civil rights issue,” he said, “then they are going to come to churches and force pastors to violate their religious convictions.”
“And so it is going to come to America to where a pastor is going to be faced with a decision: Do you obey a law that is not only unjust but violates your core principles, or do you obey God and face prison?” said Pastor Cruz.
“This is the dilemma that America’s pastors are going to be facing, if this issue is labeled a civil rights issue,” he said. “It goes way beyond marriage to actually violate the religious freedom of people of faith.”
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether state bans on homosexual marriage are constitutional. Currently, same-sex marriage is legal in 37 states and illegal in 13 states.
Rev. Rafael Cruz fought against the Communists in Cuba, was arrested there and tortured. He fled the island in 1957 at age 18. He eventually settled in Texas and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2005. His Dallas-based church also operates Christian ministries in Mexico and Central America. His wife, Eleanor Wilson Cruz, was born in Wilmington, Del.
