Rubio warns: Christianity could be labeled 'hate speech'

Marco Rubio warned of a clear and present danger to Christians in an interview published Tuesday, speaking of his Roman Catholic faith and how it guides his policy positions.

“If you think about it, we are at the water’s edge of the argument that mainstream Christian teaching is hate speech,” Rubio said in the interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network. “Because today we’ve reached the point in our society where if you do not support same-sex marriage you are labeled a homophobe and a hater.”


The next step, Rubio argued, is going after Christianity writ large.

“After they are done going after individuals, the next step is to argue that the teachings of mainstream Christianity, the catechism of the Catholic Church, is hate speech and there’s a real and present danger,” he said.

Rubio, who was baptized Catholic and is a practicing Catholic, practiced the Mormon faith for three years as a youngster while his family was living in Las Vegas.

On same-sex marriage, Rubio has sought to distinguish between his personal tolerance for gay couples and his views about traditional marriage practices and laws.

In a recent interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep, for instance, Rubio said that same-sex marriage is a matter for states, not the federal government, to decide.

“If a majority of people in any given state in this country petition their legislature to change the definition of marriage to include the marriage of two people of the same sex, that’ll be the law of the land,” he said. “And that is what it is.”