While much of the talk from Night 3 of the Republican National Convention surrounds Sen. Ted Cruz‘s stunning non-endorsement of Donald Trump, let me go back to what he said before the crowd began booing him as if Hillary Clinton stepped onto that stage herself.

Because Cruz almost sounded reasonable for a moment. (Don’t worry. It didn’t last.)

As Cruz spelled out the conservative vision for the future, he mentioned how everyone would have freedom… including groups the GOP doesn’t typically support.

Freedom means religious freedom, whether you are Christian or Jew, Muslim or atheist. Gay or straight, the Bill of Rights protects the rights of all of us to live according to our conscience.

That’s… very ironic coming out of Cruz’s mouth since he promotes Christian superiority at every turn.

He supported a stand-alone Ten Commandments monument at the Oklahoma State Capitol building last year, even after courts deemed it unconstitutional. He called that decision part of an “ongoing assault on religious liberty.”

If you think government neutrality is an “assault on religious liberty,” you’re in no position to call yourself a defender of religious freedom.

This is the same Cruz who also said back in November that atheists weren’t fit to be president:

Any president who doesn’t begin every day on his knees isn’t fit to be commander-in-chief of this nation.

He’s entitled to that opinion, of course, but I doubt many atheists think Cruz would have their backs in a legal battle.

In Cruz’s mind, you can be an atheist (or Muslim or Jew)… but the government will never treat you as well as Christians.

And that line about how the Bill of Rights protects your right to live as you choose, whether you’re gay or straight? Unbelievable. You could easily paraphrase that as, “You have a right to be gay… but I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you can’t get married, adopt children, or see your dying loved ones in a hospital.”

You can be gay, but Cruz doesn’t want you to be happy about it.

Let’s all thank Cruz for allowing us all the freedom to merely exist. And nothing else.

All that said, it was very odd to hear the word “atheist” coming out of Cruz’s mouth without being surrounded by an insult. I almost appreciated it until I realized what he was really saying.



