Though family members are usually considered off-limits in political contests, the father of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is now being fact-checked by the Tampa Bay Times’ PunditFact.
Rafael Cruz said in July that Americans used to read the Bible every day in school. He also said that it was the chief textbook used by “all” schools.
“Prior to 1962, everybody prayed before school started. In 1962, the Supreme Court banned prayer,” the elder Cruz, himself a pastor, said in an interview with the Austin-American Statesman. “In 1963, they banned the Bible from school. Prior to that, the Bible was the principal textbook in all schools.”
PunditFact decided to fact check those remarks, and found them “mostly false.” The group explained that Cruz’s father is fair game because he is “seen as Ted’s political ‘super-surrogate,’ appearing at Tea Party and 9-12 meetings as well as various Republican clubs to speak on his son’s behalf.”
“[We] will fact-check anyone who makes a statement in the press or in a public venue if we think his or her comments are significant and would cause our readers to ask themselves, ‘Is that true? (This standard has long been part of our public statement of methodology, Principles of PolitiFact, PunditFact and the Truth-O-Meter),'” editor Angie Nolan told the Washington Examiner’s media desk.
“[Rafael] Cruz’s comments met that criteria, and we would fact-check other family members of candidates — like anyone else — by those same standards,” Nolan added.
For its fact check, PunditFact reached out to scholars and quoted one saying, “the history of school prayer and Bible reading before the 1960s is complicated, but it is certainly not the case that there was a universal practice on school prayer that applied to all students.”
The group also found that early 20th century state laws show a “divide” on the issue.
PunditFact conceded that the “Supreme Court decisions that Cruz mentioned had the biggest impact on schools that sponsored Bible readings or prayers.” But the bottom line does not vindicate the senator’s father, the report said.
“Surveys and state laws from the era show school prayer and Bible reading were not as universal as Cruz said,” it reads. “Survey results of superintendents from the time show the nation’s schools were split roughly down the middle when it came to either religious activity. State laws also varied widely, though 38 had laws that at least permitted it (13 required it).”
The implication from this is that the Bible was not the “principal textbook” in “all” schools.
“Cruz exaggerated the scope of school prayer and Bible readings before the Supreme Court decisions. We rate his claim mostly false,” the report concluded.
