In a controversial statement made to a small group of Evangelicals in New Hampshire, presidential candidate Ted Cruz said, “I will make public school prayer mandatory.”
Public schools are not allowed to promote religion, but Cruz says it would greatly benefit our education system.
“Education starts with God,” said Cruz. “From there, all else can be taught. It will increase test scores, stop teen pregnancy, and make America a better place.”
Cruz also thinks prayer will help America go in the right direction into the future.
“We have lost our way,” said Cruz. “We will get back to our American roots and make sure we don’t have a generation of kids who don’t believe in God. That’s what Hillary Clinton wants.”
As Republicans have cut education spending and with ballooning higher education cost, Crus says, ‘The best part of my prayer program is that it’s free. We’ll automatically have better schools without one dime spent.”
Backlash
There is backlash over the statement for a variety of reasons. It was also strange for Cruz to announce this statement in New Hampshire with a low Evangelical population and political pundits wonder why he didn’t save it for South Carolina or last week in Iowa with a much larger conservative Christian population.
Comedian Bill Maher called Cruz’s prayer plan, “the worst idea since slavery.”
Many parents agree that their kid should not be forced to prayer in a public school. Susie Schmidt, of Dover, New Hampshire, told CNN, “If I wanted my kids to pray to an invisible being, I’d send them to Catholic school. I don’t want my tax dollars going to indoctrinating children into established religion.
“Cruz is out of line proposing this praying plan. I pray he just goes away.”
