paul kander tells the story of an 11-year-old boy who came home one day and saw his father passed out drunk on the front porch. this boy had been to school in 17 different school districts. he comes home, sees his dad passed out in the snow. this young boy was 11 years old. he could have gone inside and pretended like it wasn't his dad. he reached down and dropped his dad by the overcoat and drug him in and put him to bed. this young man has something special. this man turned out to be ronald reagan. he is strength of character, he had resolved, and he had the sunny optimism that brought democrats and non-republicans to the party. when we find that again we will win. i want to be a part of and i thanks for having me. thank you. [applause]

senator cruz: thank you. god bless the faith and freedom coalition. god bless concerned women of america stop.

i want to begin by reflecting on a horrific tragedy of last night. at the manual church. basic and deranged person came in for a with a historically black congregation for an hour and then murdered nine innocent soulss. christians across the world are lifting up the congregants. i want to begin with a moment of silence. it is a new morning, i new

morning and we are gathered here today, focused on our country. focused on the threats facing our nation. , we have leaders in our midst, this is a gathering of leaders. , every one of you ralph reed, what a neck short very leader ralph reed is.

i want to say a word about my friend penny man stop penny is extraordinary stop concerned women of america are an army of women on the ground in all 50 states standing up for our nation. , i am profoundly optimistic that we will turn our nation around and the reason i am optimistic is because of the leaders who are gathered here today. each and every one of you standing up and leading and taking on the forces of darkness, the threat that face our nation. there are many issues we could talk about. we could talk about jobs and the economy, we can talk about taxes and regulatory reform. i want to talk about an issue that i think will be front and center in 2016.

and that is religious liberty. i believe 2016 will be the religious liberty election. religious liberty has never been more threatened in america than right now today. and let's talk about religious liberty both at home and abroad. when i was the solicitor general of texas, i was proud to defend the 10 commandments monument on the state capitol grounds. we went to the u.s. supreme court and we won 5-4. , i was proud to defend the pledge of allegiance, the words one nation under god, we went to the supreme court and we won unanimously.

in private practice, i was proud to join with my good friend kelly shackelford in representing over 3 million veterans, pro bono for free, defending the mojave desert veterans memorial. they are right in one thing, the

cross has power. and i was proud to represent a 3 million veterans before the u.s. supreme court defending that monument and we won, 5-4. the battles today have only intensified. religious liberty. the epa has named religious liberty and endangered species. that would be funny if it wasn't so profoundly true. our hearts broke a couple of months ago in indiana and arkansas, come indiana and arkansas, the battle over religious liberty there, was heartbreaking.

the perfect storm of the modern democratic party and big business came together, there was a time when religious liberty brought us together. when it was a bipartisan priority we might say, you know, democrats and republicans, we will disagree on marginal tax rates, but when it comes to defending the protections of the first amendment, for everyone of us to worship and seek out and follow the lord god almighty with all of our hearts, minds, and souls, on that, we stand as one. sadly, that is the longer the case. this trumps any willingness to defend the first amendment. two decades ago congress passed the federal religious freedom restoration act. it had the support of such famed right wing that cases as ted

kennedy, chuck schumer, and joe biden. , was signed into law by democrat, bill clinton. that law was substantively identical to what both indiana and arkansas did and yet today's democratic party aided by their friends in the media and aided even more by busy business that decided it was good business to throw questions overboard and to abandon religious liberty. pounded upon leaders, i will tell you the saddest, just how many republicans ran for the hills. , i think indiana was as ronald reagan would've put it, a time for choosing. as william barrett travis in texas put it when he july in the sand, you choose which side of the line you were on. more than a few republicans

sadly, it even more than a few running for president chose that moment somehow to go rearrange their sock drawer. i will tell you this, i will never ever ever shy from standing up and defending the religious liberty of every american. for years, they hosted weddings

in this church and they made a business of catering the weddings, that is help how they provided for their livelihood. couple of years ago, two gay men wanted to have a wedding in the church. they are devout mennonites and they said, i'm sorry, we cannot host this, this is inconsistent with our faith. they found themselves drawn into litigation, extended legal battle ultimately, they wrote a check for $5,000 all stock and promised never again to host a wedding in that church. religious liberties under salt. all of us are aware in a couple of weeks, the supreme court is going to issue a decision. i would encourage everyone here to be lifting up in prayer, that they not engage in an act of

naked and lawless judicial activism tearing down the marriage laws adopted pursuant to the constitution. to underscore the threats to religious liberty, one need look no further than an exchange during that oral argument, where justice alito asked the obama solicitor general if the obama administration prevails, and you convince this court to attempt to strike down the marriage laws of every state,, with the next step the that the irs will start going after christian schools christian universities christian charities and next after that, christian churches?

any institutions that follow a biblical teaching of marriage or for that matter, jewish schools mormon schools, from any institution that follows religious teachings and the answer from the obama administration to the u.s. supreme court is, yes, that is a very real possibility that the next step is the irs coming after schools and universities. this is a time where we decide who we are. there is a reason why does the first amendment because it is all foundational.

we cannot stand it must we first are on our knees. we look at religious liberty at home abroad, it is even worse. , we are right now seeing religious persecution at a level that is horrifying, and we have a president who refuses to acknowledge it. , you cannot defeat radical islamic terrorists with a president who is unwilling to utter the words radical islamic terror. we remember the horrific attack

and president that the president described as a random act of violence. when radical islamist with butcher knives go into a kosher deli seeking to murder jews because of their jewish faith there is nothing random about that. it is a naked and transparent act of anti-semitism and it needs to be called out for what it is. when isis beheaded 21 christians , the white house put out a statement that said they were killed because of their egyptian citizenship. pope francis powerfully observed

their blood confesses jesus christ. if you are a christian, you were shot in the back of the head execution style. 147 christians on good friday. if you go to the white house and read the statement,, of the massacre,, you will search in vain,, for the words christian or islam. we must speak the truth.

can you imagine six years ago if i had told you that prime minister netanyahu would come to address a joint session of congress and the president, the vice president, and the entire

cabinet would boycott prime minister of israel. i will tell you this, morning is coming. the men and women in this room are going to play a critical role. our countries on the crossroads. if the leaders in this room, each and everyone of you in your communities, you have a circle of influence. friends, family,

>> 50 million are staying home. if we turn the country around, we are doing the work that everyone are you are doing, the turnout. if we stand for our faith, we will win in 2016. [applause] we can find the date. january 20.

on january 20, a man walks up the front of the white house. a little old man says excuse me. barack obama is no longer president of the united states. the next day, january 21, this man asked the same question. is barack obama here russian mark -- here? no. he is no longer here. the third day the same marine he says excuse me is barack obama here? he sighs and says sir he is no longer president.

the man with a twinkle in his eye says i just love hearing you say it. [applause] the marine salutes. see you tomorrow center. morning is coming. it is thanks to you. god bless the united states of america. [applause]

>> on the next washington journal the 2016 presidential contest in the aftermath of the emmanuel ame church shooting. we will take your calls on facebook and twitter. washington journal on c-span. >> sitting front left over the chamber