Oklahoma’s attorney general said the state superintendent Ryan Walters, cannot force students to watch a video of himself praying for President-elect Donald Trump.
On Thursday, Walters sent an email to school administrators in Oklahoma requiring them to show students his video announcing the new Department of Religious Freedom and Patriotism within the state Department of Education, according to Oklahoma Voice. School districts were also told to send the video to students’ parents.
“In one of the first steps of the newly created department, we are requiring all of Oklahoma schools to play the attached video to all kids that are enrolled,” the email reads.
In the video Walters blamed the “radical left” and “woke teachers unions” for attacking religious liberty in schools and mocking patriotism.
“We will not tolerate that in any school in Oklahoma,” Walters said in the video. “We want our students to be patriotic. We want our students to love this country, and we want all students’ religious liberty to be protected.”
Walters then prays for the leaders of the United States fighting these so-called ‘woke’ ideologies, but told students beforehand that they do not have to join in the prayer.
“In particular, I pray for President Donald Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change to the country,” he said.
Multiple school districts have said they had no plans to show the video to students or send it to parents.
On Friday, the office of state Attorney General Gentner Drummond issued a statement saying Walters has no authority under state law to force students to watch the video.
“Not only is this edict unenforceable, it is contrary to parents’ rights, local control and individual free-exercise rights,” Phil Bacharach, the spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said.
Walters is already facing two lawsuits over a mandate he issued in June ordering schools to incorporate the Bible into lesson plans for students in grades 5 through 12.
Several school districts have previously said that they will disregard Walters’ mandate. Critics also pointed out that the only versions of the Bible that would be approve for Oklahoma classrooms under the new criteria released by Walters is the Trump-endorsed “God Bless the USA Bible.”
On Thursday 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.
