Oklahoma superintendent's constitutional overreach must be opposed head on

PLUS: My conversation with David Pakman

Courtesy is an important custom in civic ritual and our politics. It is deeply endangered by the temporary triumph of Trump, who seems intent on testing the proposition of whether a plurality victory — and the 16th largest mandate of the last 100 years — is enough to make himself a Caesar and immolate the checks and balances. 

Ryan Walters is the superintendent of public schools in Oklahoma. He has decreed that every Oklahoma school child be forced to participate in state-mandated prayer that puts Trump front and center in an outrageous act of political and religious blasphemy:

Walters and the Oklahoma State Department of Education has spent just under $25,000 purchasing $60 Chinese-made Trump “God Bless the USA” bibles outside of the normal bidding process.

Walters has an open invitation to appear on The Warning where I would question him directly. I would demand that he answer the question he evaded with CNN’s Pam Brown, who did a great job in a brutal week for the credibility of cable news anchors:

The plain truth is that Superintendent Walters has a wafer-thin understanding of American history. I’m calling him out. He has the providential opportunity to debate the role of the Bible in relation to the US Constitution with me. He would be treated courteously, and will be uninterrupted in whatever time limit we set and agree on for 90 minutes. 

Walters has no idea what he is talking about. His actions are dangerous, illegal, unlawful, a grotesque abuse of power and staggeringly un-American. 

I would welcome the opportunity to travel to Oklahoma, and help young people understand the right thing to do is to disobey this man. He is a nutter. Tell him “no” with respect and courtesy. Do not submit to this. Standing up for yourself is going to be liberating, educational and transformative for the country. 

I would tell them to enjoy the detentions, and to wear them like a badge of honor. I would tell them to seek to fill the detentions with all the students of the school, and to paralyze the school until this madness ends. 

I would tell them to memorize the great words of our secular canon, and yield them like a sword and shield in a battle for justice and freedom against outlandish encroachments. 

The 1st Amendment is our inheritance. It was given to us by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison, and many more. It was preserved by Lincoln and countless acts of valor, where the last full measure of devotion was given to the Union. It was redeemed by Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King and John Lewis, as well as a generation of American founders who connected a bridge between our words and our promise. 

It reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I want to know what conceivable authority the Ayatollah of Oklahoma thinks he has to turn an American high school into a madras for MAGA nationalists, who are as radical as it gets. 

Many people ask in this moment, what is to be done? 

Here is my suggestion: 

Meet insanity head on. Confront assaults on liberty directly, peacefully and with great conviction. This advice applies to Oklahoma high school students, who should defy their schools and this un-American action. They should walk out of the classrooms and stand silently. When the farce is over, they should come back in. These students should be supported by donations, legal aid and by their parents, many of whom are on a growing petition to impeach Ryan that, at this hour, stands at more than 28,000 strong.

Let me speak directly to devout people. This Oklahoma action is a travesty. It has nothing to do with God, and even less to do with faith. This is the gospel of Donald John Trump and MAGA politics. A good American will resist this, and even though it might be hard at first, courage will beget courage because it is contagious. Students should organize in the parking lots and on TikTok. American students should be ready to strike against this unconstitutional overreach. This cancer has bloomed in Oklahoma. It will spread. 

Here is what this is. 

Christian nationalism is a grave threat to the United States and the American republic. There should be no ambiguity or dullness when it comes to understanding what it is — no matter how benign it may present itself. It is what lurks beyond the veneer that is terrifying. There, the evil is revealed and manifested. 

The dogma is a perversion of Christ’s teachings that is antithetical to Christianity. More importantly, Christian nationalism is utterly opposed to democracy. Theocrats despise the United States. God‘s laws are beyond the reach of the American state, and Christianity is but one religion in the beautiful mosaic of American faith.  

It should always be noted that 600 generations of humans worshipped freely on the North American continent before the first European Christians came and killed them. 

The US Constitution is the law of the land in the United States. Within it are the protections that safeguard our liberty. The freedoms of speech, dissent, conscience, worship and expression shall stand untroubled for as long as the great republic endures. We have arrived at a moment of grave crisis that cannot be ignored.

Christian nationalism is incompatible with American democracy and pluralism. When political extremists take power in the name of God there is always death. Always. 

The separation of church and state is the greatest idea in American history. The greatest American invention — the peaceful transition of power — is utterly dependent on the separation of church and state in this country.

The hostility to democracy is deeply rooted within religious fanaticism. It is unique amongst the various strains of fanatical faith that have always found a home in America because of our nation’s unique faith protections. 

We have churches where people pick up rattlesnakes and kiss them to prove they are protected by God. Proof of sin is a bite to the face and a painful death. Bo and Peep of Heaven’s Gate convinced their followers that they were headed to the Hale-Bopp comet, and Jim Jones took his flock to doom in Guyana. There are cults and fundamentalists all over America, but there is only one strain that wants to control your life by controlling the powers of the state to administer God’s law. They are the American Taliban. 

The American Constitution is clear about the founders’ intentions and their descendants’ actions to preserve and expand those intentions. There is no room for theocracy in the American system. It was rejected at hour one.

The most important thing to understand about theocrats is that they view political power as being mandated by God. In fact, many fanatics across America believe Donald Trump has been sent by him, and his opponents are demonically-inspired. 

Superintendent Walters is a dangerous man, and Oklahoma is an American state. 

No one should heed this man’s prayers.

This must be opposed. It must be resisted.

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PLUS: My conversation with David Pakman

I joined my friend David on “The David Pakman Show” yesterday. Our conversation starts at 32:12 (though I’d encourage you to listen to the entire episode). I hope you will take a listen here, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred platform:

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