Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters joined CNN’s Pamela Brown on Monday for a heated interview about his plan to implement the Bible into U.S. history classrooms in Oklahoma.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, Walters recently announced that the state has purchased 500 Bibles, which he plans to use in AP government classrooms across the state.
He further announced the implementation of a new Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism and said a prayer for our country’s new leadership following President Trump’s electoral victory.
However, he has faced pushback from leftist organizations and liberals in the state’s educational system.
Last month, Walters and the Oklahoma Department of Education were sued by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the ACLU and ACLU of Oklahoma Foundation, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice over the Bible mandate.
Additionally, a petition to impeach Walters as Superintendent gained increased attention after he invited students to say a prayer for our country’s new leadership in a video where he announced the new Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism and declared that students would be free to worship.
Leftwing CNN anchor Pamela Brown was appalled that Walters would dare introduce the nation and the world’s most historically significant religious text into history classrooms while proclaiming that students’ religious liberties “will be protected.”
She further expressed outrage over a recent X post by Walters, calling on Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to close the U.S. Department of Education “on day 1.”
.@VivekGRamaswamy and @elonmusk biggest takedown in government efficiency would be closing up the Department of Education! Task on day 1
— Superintendent Ryan Walters (@RyanWaltersSupt) November 14, 2024
Throughout the interview below, Brown repeatedly cut Walters off mid-sentence and silenced his microphone as he tried to explain his position. Clearly, she wasn’t having it and didn’t want his message to be heard.
However, Walters made several strong points about how the Bible and American History so frequently intertwine as Brown tried to accuse him of mandating religion on students, which is far from his stated goal.
At one point, Brown even suggested that Walters should introduce the Quran into studies about our country’s founding, despite Islam playing no clear role in the founding of the United States.
Walters responded, saying in world history classes, “you can absolutely” talk about the Quran.
She then took to attacking Oklahoma’s low ranking in education, and Walters responded, “We are in the middle of a turnaround here because we are following President Trump’s agenda.
This is the agenda for the entire country. We have school choice; we have merit pay. We are rejecting this left-wing ideology in the classroom. We are promoting American exceptionalism.”
“We are pressing students forward to see academic outcomes improve. We’ve seen record improvement. Record numbers of schools are improving here in Oklahoma. That’s what you’re going to see for the whole country under President Trump,” Walters continued.
“They act like I’m controversial because I’m creating change in a status quo system that has failed kids and failed parents for decades.”
Transcript:
Brown: Where is your authority coming from to enforce this prayer video to be played in schools?
Walters: Yeah, I appreciate you pushing that left-wing narrative here, but here’s the reality… The Constitution is crystal clear on religious liberty. I know the left doesn’t want our kids to know anything about the role the Bible played in American history.
They don’t want any of our kids to know about the Constitution. Our religious liberties are protected, and the left has driven the Bible out of schools, driven prayer out of schools, and everything in education has gotten worse since. Before we had a Federal Department of Education and we had the Bible and prayer in school, guess what? We were leading the free world.
This was the greatest country in the world, and we have seen every statistic has gotten worse since the creation of the Federal Department of Education, and the Supreme Court pulled the Bible and prayer out of schools.
President Trump has won on this issue. He has a crystal clear mandate. It’s one Americans want, it’s what Oklahomans want. So, we’re going to deliver on President Trump’s promises here in Oklahoma.
Brown: You went after woke teachers and the radical left in your announcement for attacking religious liberty. But your critics are saying that by requiring Bibles in every classroom and requiring this prayer video, you’re trying to impose your religion on students in violation of the Establishment Clause.
They say the Constitution, scholars say the Constitution, is crystal clear on freedom of religion, not enforcing one religion your religion on students, what do you say?
Walters: Look, CNN doesn’t have to like it. Left-wing activists don’t have to like it… The Bible is a historical document. You can’t rewrite history, okay? The reality is the Bible was what drove so many of the consequential events in American history.
Why’d the pilgrims come to America? Why in the world did Abraham Lincoln mentioned God and God’s providence in so many of his speeches? How do you explain Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter from a Birmingham jail where he goes through biblical examples if the left continues to censor the Bible from our history classes.
Listen, the left doesn’t have to like it. They can be offended by it, but we’ve got to teach history to our young people to make this country great again. President Trump has a clear mandate.
Our kids have to understand what made America great in the first place. And obviously, the Bible, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, are indispensable in understanding the story of America.
Brown: What I’m saying is your critics, including a lot of parents, are saying you’re trying to enforce your religion, your specific religion, Christianity, onto students, not just by requiring Bibles in every classroom, but also by requiring this prayer video as well, where you also pray for Donald Trump.
Just last week, this federal judge ruled it’s unconstitutional for the 10 Commandments to be shown in the classroom. How is what you’re trying to do different?
Walters: Well, it’s a radical federal judge—way out of step with the American people and the Constitution. Here’s the reality, we have the right to express our religious beliefs. We absolutely do. That doesn’t stop at a schoolhouse. I was crystal clear in there.
We’re not telling kids they have to pray, but we are telling kids they have the right to pray if they so choose. That is what the free expression of your religious beliefs means, and the left has driven that out of schools because of their hatred for Christianity and people of faith. President Trump has been clear we’re going to…
Brown: If it’s important to talk about religious texts and how it weaves into the history of the US, then why not also include the Quran, why not also include the Book of Mormon? Why not also include these other religious texts?
Walters: Let’s talk about this for a second. Everyone who signed that list, everybody suing me. They’re the same people that want gender queer and flamer in the classroom under the guise…
I know the litigants in the case, the ACLU sued me on both, Southern Poverty Law Center. The reality is these people want radical gender pornography in the classroom, but they don’t want the Bible…
You think the Bible’s on the same plane as gender? That’s laughable. The Bible’s the most read book in American history, and the left doesn’t want our kids to know anything about it. They don’t want the kids to understand that it played a huge role in American history. That is academic malpractice.
We have to get back to teaching American exceptionalism, American values, where those things came from. That’s just history. And the left doesn’t have to like it…
