'Hold on, I'm speaking': CNN host clashes with MAGA school official over Bibles

CNN's Pamela Brown clashed with Oklahoma's school superintendent Ryan Walters over religion in the classroom.

Walters announced last week that the state had purchased more than 500 Donald Trump-endorsed Bibles to put into classrooms, and he angered many parents and teachers by directing them to play videos of him praying for the president-elect.

"The Constitution is crystal clear on religious liberty," Walters said on CNN Monday.

"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."

But Brown wasn't having it, and launched into a long and detailed put down of what he was saying — full of examples and historic context.

"All right first of all, the Constitution is not crystal clear on that," Brown said. "It doesn't have God in it, there is this Establishment Clause in the First Amendment, which the Supreme Court has routinely said it requires the separation of church and state and public schools. There are many cases."

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Walters attempted to interrupt the anchor, but Brown cut him off.

"Hold on, I am speaking," she said.

"There are many cases where the Supreme Court has routinely ruled on that. 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 and violation of the Establishment Clause.

"Constitutional scholars say the Constitution is crystal clear on freedom of religion, not enforcing one religion, your religion on students."

Watch the video below or at this link.

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