Presidential candidate Ted Cruz spoke with CitizenLink’s Paul Weber as part of our presidential teleconference series. Weber spoke with Cruz about many topics, including his deeply held faith.
“As a Christian, I try to approach each day and each major challenge in prayer, seeking the Lord’s guidance,” Cruz said. “I think that any president who does not begin every day on his knees in prayer is not fit to be Commander in Chief. With each decision that I would make as president, it would be my hope that the same wisdom and love would be reflected and that would certainly be my prayer.”
Some people say he’s the most hated man in the Senate. Does that bother him?
“The media will say all sorts of things,” he laughed. “It is absolutely true that if you go to Washington, if you go to the Senate, and you actually honor the commitments you made to the men and women who elected you, you stand for the Constitution, then you incur the wrath of the Washington establishment.
“I have noticed, the more you are despised in Washington, the more you are appreciated by the American people who are fed up with Washington politicians… and are not listening to the American people.”
CitizenLink’s president and CEO asked him about the Supreme Court marriage decision now being challenged by Tennessee. The state passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. What would he do with the question of marriage as president?
“Well, this gay-marriage decision was really, for people of faith, what Ronald Reagan would call a time for choosing,” he explained. “A number of the other leading candidates in the Republican field, when the gay-marriage decision came down said, essentially, ‘It is the settled law of the land.’ I could not disagree with that statement more strongly. Now, what have I done in response? I’ve introduced a constitutional amendment to protect and restore the authority of the states to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. I also introduced legislation in the Senate stripping the courts of jurisdiction over challenges to marriage. I publically called for a constitutional amendment imposing judicial retention elections on Supreme Court justices periodically to throw them out of office.
“Marriage was ordained by God, not by the U.S. Supreme Court. We need a president who will defend marriage and defend the Constitution and that’s exactly what I intend to do.”
Ordinary citizens have found themselves fighting to retain their religious freedoms. As president, how would he help people of faith to follow their conscience?
“The attacks we’ve seen on religious liberty the past seven years have been horrific and they have been growing,” he said. “I have pledged on my very first day in office, if I’m elected president, I will instruct the Department of Justice and the IRS and every other federal agency that the persecution of religious liberty ends today.”
The indictment of two videographers with the Center for Medical Progress has many in the pro-life movement wondering what will happen next. If elected, what would Cruz do about Planned Parenthood?
“The indictment was heartbreaking,” he said. “It was sad to see, and it was wrong. On Day One, I will direct the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation into Planned Parenthood and to prosecute any and all violations.”
How will conservative values win the election?
“If conservatives are united, we will win the primary. We will win the general election, we will turn this country around,” he said. “I think the longest lasting legacy of Barack Obama will be a new generation of leaders in the Republican Party who defend free market principles, who defend the Constitution, and who defend the Judeo-Christian values that built American into the ‘shining city on a hill.’”
CitizenLink is hosting a series of conference calls with the leading conservative candidates. This does not constitute an endorsement of any candidate.
