CNN host Pamela Brown confronted Oklahoma schools superintendent Ryan Walters on Monday for introducing Donald Trump endorsed bibles in schools statewide.
Last week, Walters announced that the state’s education department had purchased 500 of the ‘God Bless the USA Bibles” for about $25,000 to be used in Advanced Placement government classes in schools across the state.
The Bible includes a King James Version translation, copies of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance. It sells for $60 each.
In a testy interview on CNN Monday, Walters defended his decision to put the Trump bible in schools instead of opting for a cheaper version.
“The books you bought were the Trump-endorsed bible that’s $60 a pop,” Brown said. “There are many bibles available that are less than half of that. Why are you using the Trump-endorsed bible? What do you say to critics who argue that this is clear cut political pandering?”
“We’re gonna teach American history in Oklahoma so that includes the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,” Walters responded. “They are all included in this bible that we purchased. The Bible will be back in Oklahoma classrooms—”
“Why the Trump bible though?” Brown interrupted. “Why not a cheaper bible? You could save a lot of money and taxpayers’ dollars.”
Walters doubled down, arguing that no other Bible contains the documents to help students “understand the full context of the founding documents.”
“These are all so important so our students can understand what makes America the greatest country in the history of the world,” he added.
In Monday’s interview Walters also defended his controversial decision to force schools to play a video of himself praying for Donald Trump to all students. The state’s attorney general said Walters has no authority under state law to force students to watch the video.
“President Trump has a clear mandate,” he said. “He wants prayer back in school. He wants radical leftism out of the classroom. He wants our kids to be patriotic want parents back in charge with school choice, we are acting upon that agenda here in Oklahoma.”
But Brown pushed back, pointing out that thousand of people, including parents, have signed a petition calling the move “government overreach” and calling for Walters’ impeachment.
The CNN host also noted that the Constitution “doesn’t have God in it” and that the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause “requires the separation of church and state.”
The First Amendment promises freedom of religion but also explicitly state that the government shall not favor one religion over another.
Watch the full interview:
