Senator Ted Cruz (R, TX) had strong words for Senator Tim Kaine (D, VA) after he described the idea of God-given rights as “very, very troubling.” Kaine made the comment while speaking during a nominations hearing of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Kaine, who identifies as Catholic, warned that the concept of rights from God were from theocratic dictatorships like Iran. “The notion that rights don’t come from laws and don’t come from the government but come from the Creator — that’s what the Iranian government believes. It’s a theocratic regime that bases its rule on Sharia law and targets Sunnis, Bahá’ís, Jews, Christians and other religious minorities,” he said. “And they do it because they believe that they understand what natural rights are from their Creator. So, the statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling. I think the motto over the Supreme Court is ‘equal justice under law,’ — the oath that you and I take pledged to support and defend the Constitution of the United States, not arbitrarily defined natural rights.”

Cruz spoke up after Kaine had left the room, rebuking his remarks. “I just walked into the hearing as he was saying that, and I almost fell out of my chair, because that ‘radical and dangerous notion’ — in his words — is literally the founding principle upon which the United States of America was created,” he said. He then went on to quote the Declaration of Independence, citing, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator’ — not by government, not by the Democratic National Committee, but by God-‘with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’”  Writing on his Facebook, Cruz had some advice for Tim Kaine and the Democrat Party. “I suggest the Dems go back and read the words of our Founding Fathers,” he wrote.

Conservatives were quick to slam Kaine on social media as well. “A U.S. Senator @timkaine said our natural rights come from laws and government, not from our creator,” wrote Lily Tang Williams, Republican candidate for Congress in New Hampshire. “He just rejected our founding principles. This is what communists want me to believe in China. How did Americans vote these politicians into congress?” “This is a remarkable moment from Tim Kaine,” wrote the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh. “He just announced that the core foundational principle of our country, affirmed in the Declaration of Independence, is “extremely troubling” and “theocratic.” He should be immediately removed from office. Anyone who rejects our nation’s foundational principles is obviously not fit to serve.”