Raphael Warnock Calls Ted Cruz's Muslims-in-Heaven Joke 'Religious Bigotry'

Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Baptist pastor, said in an interview that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's joke about Muslims in heaven was "bigotry, pure and simple." The rebuke of a fellow Baptist and Senate colleague centers on a competitive Senate race in Kansas.

Warnock was asked about remarks Cruz made in Kansas about Adam Hamilton, the Democratic challenger to Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, and what Hamilton has said about who gets into heaven.

"It's bigotry, pure and simple. Religious bigotry is bigotry, and the Republicans know that they're losing the argument," Warnock said.

He added that it was "deeply disheartening, though not terribly surprising, that they're trying to stir up these old demons."

What Ted Cruz Said About Adam Hamilton

The interviewer noted that Cruz, like Warnock, is a Baptist, then played a clip of Cruz speaking in Kansas. In it, Cruz characterized Hamilton's view this way: "When we get to heaven, there will be Muslims, and we can hog and embrace them, and they will be welcomed in heaven." Then Cruz added his own punchline: "interesting idea, we show up there in heaven. First thing you see is Osama bin Laden."

In the part of the clip that was played, Cruz singled out bin Laden and did not describe Muslims in general as terrorists.

The dispute goes back to a 2022 sermon in which Hamilton said people who are not Christians will be in heaven, a video of which newly resurfaced in August. The Christian Post's account records Hamilton's own wording, which differs from Cruz's paraphrase: "When it comes to other faiths, I believe as a Christian that they are going to, when they get to Heaven, they're going to see Jesus and they're going to say, 'Oh, it was you all along that I was searching for.'" Cruz had already called the sermon "heretical" on X, citing John 14:6: "No one comes to the Father except through me." Hamilton's campaign told The Christian Post that "Adam was not speaking of universalism" but "was discussing inclusivism," a view that God's grace can reach people who sought God without knowing Christ.

Warnock Invokes the Constitution's 'No Religious Test' Clause

Warnock's answer went beyond Hamilton. Before turning to the Constitution, he said, "Listen, I'm a proud American, as is Abdul." He did not say who Abdul was in the portion of the interview that was played.

"There is no religious test for citizenship in America, and there's no religious test to hold office, and as a Christian pastor, I take no comfort in this kind of Islamophobia, in this kind of bigotry, of lifting up the worst example of someone who claims a faith and trying to conflate that as the faith itself," he said.

Article VI of the Constitution says "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." The clause has been tested in practice before. In 2007, Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, planned to take his oath on a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson. Virginia Republican Rep. Virgil Goode criticized him for taking the oath on a Quran and called for immigration policy to keep Muslims out of the country.

"As an African American, I know bigotry when I see it. We have to resist it, reject it. America is so much better than this." — Sen. Raphael Warnock

Where the Kansas Senate Race Stands

Warnock's claim that Republicans are "losing the argument" is his own view. The polling, though, shows Marshall in a fight. Hamilton leads Marshall 49 percent to 44.9 percent in PolitiKool's polling average for the race.

The Emerson College poll, conducted October 26-28 among 800 likely voters, had Hamilton at 49 percent, Marshall at 45 percent and Libertarian David Graham at 3 percent. Hamilton also led in Emerson's September survey, 45 percent to 43 percent. His support has since risen four points, and independents favored him 59 percent to 25 percent.

A Hamilton win would cut into a Republican majority in a chamber where control is a toss-up, according to PolitiKool's Senate polling average.

What Happens Next

Polls close Tuesday, and the result will show whether Kansas voters see the dispute the way Cruz does or the way Warnock does.