On Tuesday, the Christian Broadcasting Network released an interview with Senator Marco Rubio during which he warns, “…we are at the water’s edge of the argument that mainstream Christian teaching is hate speech.”

The interview draws special attention to Rubio’s Roman Catholic background as well has his emphasis on the importance of family, before building to his “water’s edge” comment.

“The family is the original cell of society…. It is the first church. The family is the singular most important institution in society. It existed before government. It existed before laws.”

Christian family values and social conscience, many of which are founded upon mainstream teachings like the belief in traditional marriage, are among those at risk, Rubio said. He sees this impending conflict “…because today we’ve reached the point in our society where if you do not support same-sex marriage you are labeled as a homophobe and a hater. So what’s the next step after that? After they are done going after individuals, the next step is to argue that the teachings of mainstream Christianity, the catechism of the Catholic Church is hate speech, and there’s a real and present danger.”

Noah Muscente works for American Principles in Action.