Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) father believes many of the evangelical South Carolina voters who chose Donald Trump over his son in Saturday’s primary are not truly born-again Christians.
In an interview with conservative Iowa radio host Steve Deace, who has endorsed the senator, Rafael Cruz said those evangelical voters who picked Trump may have been influenced by a “politically correct” culture and don’t strictly adhere to the “word of God.”
Ted Cruz often speaks of his particular brand of faith on the 2016 trail and campaigns with his father, who is an evangelical preacher. In another interview recently surfaced by Mother Jones, Rafael Cruz claimed that his son launched a White House bid after his wife, Heidi, received a sign from God.
Though the Cruz campaign’s focus on evangelicals helped secure a victory in the Iowa caucuses, Trump ended up earning eight more points than Cruz among evangelical voters in the Palmetto State. The twice-divorced New York real estate mogul, who voiced support for abortion years ago and says he’s since changed his mind, has a more casual attitude towards religion than many of his Republican opponents.
“What does that say about where we’re at as a church?” Deace asked Rafael Cruz on his radio show.
“Well, I think that they’re defining evangelicals in a very loose manner,” the elder Cruz responded. “If we look at the numbers, those that are people that call themselves born-again Christians that are committed to the Lord, we won overwhelmingly among that group.”
“Unfortunately—and this is a message that I have been carrying to America, as you said, for several years—there are too many people in the church that have actually become lax about the word of God,” he continued. “That they are being more concerned with being politically correct than being biblically correct, they have diluted the word of God in order to be palatable to everyone.”
Listen to the interview below via Right Wing Watch:
