Ted Cruz doesn’t PICK fights… he FINISHES them. Ilhan Omar took a run at Ted Cruz’s faith and patriotism. That wasn’t a really bright idea.
Ted had gone on record talking about his faith, and something he said had the typical knee-jerk anti-Christian reaction.
Ted Cruz: ‘I’m a Christian first, American second.’
Imagine if a Muslim or Jewish politician said that!
It all began when she was quoting this Tweet from a relatively small and anonymous account:
Ted Cruz: 'I'm a Christian first, American second.'
Imagine if a Muslim or Jewish politician said that! https://t.co/yML7IMZG6w
— Amber (@AmberD1116) February 9, 2020
Ilhan Omar saw it and magnified it. Unable or unwilling to say anything in her own words, she just shared it with the eyes staring sideways emoji:
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 10, 2020
Normally, if you’re going to call someone out publicly like that, it’s a good idea to tag them so they can reply to it. But she didn’t. Somehow, it came to Ted’s attention.
Ted Cruz answered back… staring by addressing the emoji which showed her either confused or dismayed, and setting up a history lesson for her.
2/x George Washington wrote in 1778, “While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens & soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory….”
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 10, 2020
4/x Here’s how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put it in 1956, “The Christian owes his ultimate allegiance to God, and if any earthly institution conflicts with God's will it is your Christian duty to take a stand against it.”
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 10, 2020
6/x MLK: “…Never succumb to the temptation of becoming bitter. As you press on for justice, be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull you so low as to hate him. Always avoid violence.”
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 10, 2020
Having MORAL loyalties higher than mere partisan political ones are in no way hostile to his patriotism.
For one thing, there is nothing in Christianity that endorses one particular political system or allegiance that would conflict with civil order. The Christian duties are moral ones, not civil ones… and included in Christian moral duties is an obligation to lawful citizenship in so far as sin has not been commanded.
It is this very principle that allows free citizens the moral freedom to disobey a non-lawful order, and the basis on which we held German SS officers accountable, refusing to accept as valid their pathetic excuse of ‘I was only following orders’.
Ilhan’s example of Islam in this quote an interesting one, because Islam doesn’t have the same clean divisions between secular and religious obligations that the West has come to take for granted.
This is EXACTLY the reason Sharia law becomes such a contentious issue. In many important ways, it runs in directions explicitly contrary to the legal law of the land, while making moral demands on those whose religious convictions obligate them to accept it.
Christianity has no equivalent. In fact, it goes out of its way to emphasize the inward and moral change of the individual believer over any outward and (in modern terms) political obligations. For example:
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. — Galatians
With George Washington and MLK Jr. calling us to the same ‘Higher Loyalty’ that even snake-in-the-grass Comey attempted to invoke in the title of his book, the real question is…
… what inherent biases does Ilhan Omar have that make her chafe against such a deeply American sentiment?
