Pastor Rafael Cruz, the father of Texas Senator Ted Cruz, blasted the current public school curriculum in America, saying it is "harmful" to children.

"Unfortunately public school in America is now, with Common Core, programming children with all this secular humanism," he said, according to Buzzfeed.

Cruz made the comment after the plenary panel on "Marriage and the Family" at the 9th World Congress of Families, a global summit bringing together social conservative activists held this year in Salt Lake City, Utah.

"If you have children in public school, you either have to take the time to de-programme them from all the brainwashing that they're getting in the public school, or you have to take them out of public school, home school them, or put them in a Christian school."

Cruz said the US "is the only country on the face of the earth that was founded on the book of God," urging activists to "take the leadership to exalt the name Jesus Christ in America to make sure that it once again becomes that 'shining city on a hill.'"

Cruz also warned that the next aim of LGBT activists is to legalise paedophilia.

"I think that's the next thing that they're going to push, to try to legalise paedophiles."

"Paedophilia, you have all these laws to forget about — we have laws on the books about statutory rape. You have to basically throw away the statutory rape laws to legalize paedophilia," he said.

A member of the audience asked him about the link between LGBT rights and paedophilia.

"Can you comment or include in your presentation the damage that is being done by the LGBT and what they have done to partner with the paedophilia and the 3 million children a year that are victimised by them?" asked Pastor Martin of Dayton, Ohio.

Cruz warned about the danger of non-discrimination laws like the one enacted in Houston in 2014. The opponents of the proposal succeeded in putting it in a referendum to be held Tuesday.

"We have a lot of apathy and a lot of ignorance. But we need to be cognizant of something that is called sexual orientation and gender identity ordinances — SOGI [sexual orientation and gender identity] ordinances," he said. "SOGI ordinances are very stealthily being promoted into a lot of communities like the one in Houston. We need to be very aware of what's happening in the city council level passing these SOGI ordinances which are actually promoting this sexual orientation and gender identity to be part of the curriculum in public schools."

However, Janice Shaw Crouse, executive director for the World Congress for Families IX, said Cruz's remarks do not represent the organisation.

"While Pastor Cruz's remarks may represent his opinions, they are not those of the World Congress of Families. Collectively, the World Congress of Families' agenda advocates for life and the natural family in a civil, constructive and transparent way," she said.