It is remarkable that CNN News Central host Pamela Brown managed to avoid setting the studio on fire from all the straw men she torched during a Tuesday interview with Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters over his plan to put the Bible back in schools as part of an effort to give Oklahoman children an accurate sense of American history. Instead, Brown kept pestering him over whether he wanted to teach about beheadings, while claiming the Bible is pornographic.
Brown inquired, “We just referenced it, and in this, you’re saying that the teaching of the Bible in the classroom is a must, that every teacher must accept that. The Bible includes beheading, rape, and incest. Do you support teaching children about those topics?”
Walters did not dignify the question with a direct response. Instead, he gave his perspective on why the move is necessary, “I support teaching children our history accurately and what we’ve seen is the radical left and the teachers’ union have driven the Bible out of schools.”
For Walters, teaching the Bible is not about pointing out that David cut off Goliath’s head, but about giving students a better understanding of their country’s history:
You can’t talk about our rights coming from God, as Thomas Jefferson referenced, you can’t talk about Abraham Lincoln talking about being on God’s side in what he does and that inspires him. You can’t talk about the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King Jr., who routinely referenced examples from the Bible, including from a ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ to say the reason I’m doing the things I’m doing is because of the tenants taught to me by the Bible, so it’s essential that our kids understand our history and we’re going to put it back in and the left is going to continue to try to censor our history. Well, we’re not gonna allow it here in Oklahoma.
Brown ignored everything Walters just said and tried again, “Okay, you didn’t answer my question. We’re going to get to the history and everything, and by the way, Thomas Jefferson, he advocated for freedom of religion, actually not the establishment of a religion for one, but are you okay with all teachings of the Bible? If you want to bring it back into the classroom: rape, incest, beheading. Are you— is that acceptable to you?”
Walters held firm, “Again, I’ll answer your question, you might not like to answer, but it is the answer. It is our history—“
After Brown interrupted to laughably claim, “I’m not taking a position one way or another,” Walters continued, “is referenced, the Bible was referenced multiple times in American history. It had a profound influence on American history. It was the bestselling book in American history, to not teach that in the classroom is academic malpractice. Our kids have to understand our history and we’re not going to hide that from them.”
Not thrilled Walters wasn’t living up to the caricature she had set up ahead of time, Walters tried a third time, “Okay, so will you allow teachers to teach all aspects of the Bible? How are teachers supposed to know what of the Bible to teach and what of the Bible not to teach? It’s a simple question, given the fact that the Bible includes, also, you know, pornographic material, something you’ve come out against and actually took a teaching certificate away from a teacher for giving access to students— a pornographic material. That’s in the Bible.”
Again, Walters is not mandating that kids be taught about David severing his enemies’ foreskins as a dowry to marry King Saul’s daughter, but even if he was, Walters correctly rejected the comparison, “Yeah, let me be crystal clear. The Bible is not on the same plane as Gender Queer and Flamer.”
He would go on to, once again, reiterate that the plan is to simply give Oklahoma’s children the context needed to better understand the pivotal moments in American history.
Here is a transcript for the July 2 show:
CNN News Central
7/2/2024
2:34 PM ET
PAMELA BROWN: We just referenced it, and in this, you’re saying that the teaching of the Bible in the classroom is a must, that every teacher must accept that. The Bible includes beheading, rape, and incest. Do you support teaching children about those topics?
RYAN WALTERS: I support teaching children our history accurately and what we’ve seen is the radical left and the teachers’ union have driven the Bible out of schools.
You can’t talk about our rights coming from God, as Thomas Jefferson referenced, you can’t talk about Abraham Lincoln talking about being on God’s side in what he does and that inspires him. You can’t talk about the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King Jr., who routinely referenced examples from the Bible, including from a “Letter from Birmingham Jail” to say the reason I’m doing the things I’m doing is because of the tenants taught to me by the Bible, so it’s essential that our kids understand our history and we’re going to put it back in and the left is going to continue to try to censor our history. Well, we’re not gonna allow it here in Oklahoma
BROWN: Okay, you didn’t answer my question. We’re going to get to the history and everything, and by the way, Thomas Jefferson, he advocated for freedom of religion, actually not the establishment of a religion for one, but are you okay with all teachings of the Bible? If you want to bring it back into the classroom, rape, incest, beheading. Are you— is that acceptable to you?
WALTERS: Again, I’ll answer your question, you might not like to answer, but it is the answer. It is our history—
BROWN: I’m not taking a position one way or another.
WALTERS: — is referenced, the Bible was referenced multiple times in American history. It had a profound influence on American history. It was the bestselling book in American history, to not teach that in the classroom is academic malpractice. Our kids have to understand our history and we’re not going to hide that from them.
BROWN: Okay, so will you allow teachers to teach all aspects of the Bible? How are teachers supposed to know what of the Bible to teach and what of the Bible not to teach? It’s a simple question, given the fact that the Bible includes, also, you know, pornographic material, something you’ve come out against and actually took a teaching certificate away from a teacher for giving access to students— a pornographic material. That’s in the Bible.
WALTERS: Yeah, let me be crystal clear. The Bible is not on the same plane as Gender Queer and Flamer. These are pornography, the Bible is a book that was referenced throughout American history. We have academic standards that tell our teachers that you are to talk about the Bible in reference to the Mayflower Compact, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” the Declaration of Independence, so these are all very clear. It’s very clear from primary sources that these individuals reference history— in our history, they referenced the Bible. So look, when it’s historically accurate, we’re absolutely going to include that. I mean, think about how absurd it would be to teach about the Pilgrims if you don’t mention their intention for moving to the New World, it’s crucial and we’re not gonna allow the radical left to continue to push a false history on our kids that said that faith played no role, well, just read the history. It’s clearly there.