Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is partnering with country singer Lee Greenwood to donate Trump-endorsed “God Bless the USA” Bibles to classrooms across the state.
Inspired by Greenwood’s hit “God Bless the USA” song, this unique bible includes a King James interpretation of the bible as well as the texts of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence and several other founding documents.
While campaigning in 2024, President Donald Trump endorsed the God Bless the USA Bible, saying, “You have to have it, for your heart, for your soul.”
In a video promoting the Bible released last year, Trump said, “We must make America pray again.”
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Walters said the effort is about combatting “state-sponsored atheism” advanced by teachers who would scrub any reference to the bible from American history. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki/Truth Social/ @realDonaldTrump/Jared C. Tilton)
“All Americans need a Bible in their home,” said Trump. “This Bible is a reminder that the biggest thing we have to bring back America and to make America great again is our religion.”
“Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country,” he went on. “I truly believe that we have to bring them back and we have to bring them back fast. I think that’s one of the biggest problems we have, that’s why our country is going haywire, we’ve lost religion in our country.”
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Walters, a Republican, said that in line with these efforts, he partnered with Greenwood to gather donations for God Bless the USA Bibles to be purchased “at no cost to the state” and sent to classrooms.
“We’ve got to understand the Judeo-Christian values that were so crucial in American history … and I think a big part of that is getting the bible back in the classroom,” he said.
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While campaigning in 2024, President Donald Trump endorsed the God Bless the USA bible, saying, “You have to have it, for your heart, for your soul.”In a video promoting the Bible released last year, Trump said, “We must make America pray again.” (Truth Social/ @realDonaldTrump)
So far Walters said that over 500 of the Trump-endorsed Bibles have been donated to classrooms across the state.
To him, the effort is about combating “state-sponsored atheism” advanced by teachers who would scrub any reference to the bible from American history.
“If you go into a classroom and go, ‘Well, we’re going to teach you guys about American history, except for we’re going to scrub any reference to the Bible. We’re going to scrub any reference of anyone who talks about their faith throughout our history. So, we’re going to eliminate that aspect of history.’ You just turned this into atheism. You are pushing a religion on kids,” he explained. “[So], we’re very excited to see patriotic Americans across the country stepping up to make sure that we don’t allow state-sponsored atheism.”
“Just teach history,” he went on. “When George Washington talks about the Bible, talk about the bible, when the pilgrims talked about the bible, talk about the Bible … You have to teach kids history so that they can then make their own conclusions. They can learn from that, they can then forge their own worldview and viewpoints. But you can’t start by scrubbing history of any references to the bible because you’re offended by it.”
“It’s our history,” he said. “So, we’re going to teach it here in Oklahoma.”
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Lee Greenwood passionately performs at the inauguration. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool Photo via AP)
Commenting on the campaign, Greenwood told Fox News Digital, that he felt drawn to offer to partner with Oklahoma because of Walter’s advocacy for bringing the bible back to American classrooms.
“As a firm believer and faithful Christian, this was very appealing to me,” he explained.
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Greenwood said that the campaign has garnered “some great attention,” and that his team is in conversations with corporate partners about buying the Bibles in bulk.
“Everywhere I go – on tour and at special events – I have people coming up to me thanking me for what we are doing,” he said. “Nobody is being shy about their support for this endeavor.”
