HOUSTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Whip Tom DeLay wants more religion and less "political correctness" at Texas public universities, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
The Texas Republican urged an audience at a Houston-area church last week to pressure state legislators to "throw the P.C. out and bring God in" to Texas schools, the Houston Chronicle said.
Advocates for the separation of church and state said DeLay's comments violated that principle.
DeLay warned the group not to send their children to Baylor University, a Baptist school in Waco, Texas, or Texas A&M University, known for its military traditions and the presidential library of George Bush. Both are generally regarded as among the state's most conservative schools, but DeLay disagreed.
"Texas A&M University used to be a conservative university," DeLay, the third-ranking House Republican, told 300 people at the First Baptist Church in Pearland, Texas, last Friday.
"It's lost all of its conservatism and it's renounced its traditions. It's really sad. My daughter went there, you know, she had horrible experiences with coed dorms and guys who spent weekends in the rooms with girls, and all this kind of stuff went on there. It's just unbelievable," DeLay said.
"There are still some Christian schools out there -- good, solid schools. Now, they may be little, they may not be as prestigious as Stanford, but your kids will get a good, solid, godly education," he continued.
DeLay's comments were taped without his knowledge and sent to the Chronicle by the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
The group's director, Barry Lynn, accused DeLay of pushing religion on public schools in what he described as "a clear violation of the principle of separation of church and state."
DeLay spokesman Jonathan Grella said Delay believed the doctrine of church/state separation "did not intend prohibiting religion from playing a role in the state."