Rafael Cruz said at an event in Brenham, Texas, this month that the impending Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage will be “an ominous decision” that will determine “whether the definition of marriage we have had for 6,000 years is going to be thrown out the window.”

Cruz, the father and top campaign surrogate of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, warned that “if this decision comes against the biblical definition of marriage, the next thing that is going to happen is the government is going to come demanding that churches hire homosexual pastors and churches perform homosexual marriages. It is a very critical time in America.”

Likening the silence of Christians in the face of impending gay marriage doom to the silence of German citizens in Nazi Germany, Cruz asked, “How long are we going to remain silent? Or perhaps the more important question is are we going to have to answer to God for our silence? You know, silence is not an option.” Quoting German pastor and dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Cruz reminded his audience that “silence in the face of evil is evil itself…not to speak, is to speak. See, the silence sends the message loud and clear. We can’t afford to be silent anymore.”