Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters defended a new mandate requiring the Bible to be incorporated into classroom lessons during a heated clash on CNN on Tuesday.

“The Bible includes beheading, rape and incest,” CNN host Pamela Brown said to Walters at the start of the interview. “Do you support teaching children about those topics?”

Walters did not directly address Brown’s question, but explained that referencing the Bible was necessary to understand historical documents and important events in our nation’s history, from its founding to the Civil Rights movement. 

“It had a profound influence on American history. It was the best-selling book in American history. To not teach that in the classroom is academic malpractice,” he told Brown.

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The two sparred as Brown continued to press him to answer if the more graphic elements in the Bible were acceptable in the classroom.

“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 not to teach? It’s a simple question,” she asked again, before referencing the conservative figure’s fight to eradicate pornographic books from school classrooms and libraries.

“Let me be crystal clear: The Bible is not on the same plane as ‘Gender Queer’ and ‘Flamer,’ Walters retorted. “These are pornography.”

“We have academic standards that tell our teachers that you are to talk about the Bible in reference to the Mayflower Compact, letters from a Birmingham Jail, the Declaration of Independence,” he continued. “It‘s very clear from primary sources that these individuals referenced 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 going to 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.”

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A new mandate in Oklahoma requires public school teachers to incorporate the Bible as a reference in history lessons, the school superintendent argued. (iStock)

Brown continued to push back on Walters’ arguments, offering counterpoints to his stance on the influence of the Bible and Christianity on the founding of America.

“We should note… God is not mentioned in the Constitution. It is mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, but not a Christian God, right, and it also says that all men are created equal. And one would argue it‘s not creating a stature of, ‘If you‘re a Christian, if you believe in the Bible, you are of a higher stature,’” she responded. 

Walters maintained his argument and told the CNN host, “People can be offended by that, they may not like it, but they can’t rewrite our history.”

“To censor the Bible out of our schools is to create our schools to be state-sponsored atheist centers,” he continued. “Our position is purely historical.”

The new directive from the top education official requires all public schools in Oklahoma to add the Bible and the Ten Commandments as “instructional support into the curriculum across specified grade levels.” The religious text will be referenced as appropriate in the study of “history, civilization, ethics, comparative religion…as well as for their substantial influence on our nation’s founders and the foundational principles of our Constitution,” the memo states.

Walters said in the memo that his directive aligns with educational standards approved in May 2019.

Although Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed a bill into law last week requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every classroom by 2025, Walters says Oklahoma is the first state to require the Bible be used in all classrooms, effective immediately.

Fox News’ Greg Wehner contributed to this article.

An Oklahoma judge previously indicted for drive-by shootings in two states faces removal for alleged preferential treatment toward a particular lawyer and sexual misadventures with staff in his courthouse.

Garfield County Associate District Judge Brian Lovell, 58, was indicted in Travis County, Texas, last September for allegedly shooting six parked cars at an intersection outside the locally-famous Austin Tex-Mex restaurant Juan in a Million, the Enid News & Eagle reported.

He allegedly fled the scene and then rammed a woman’s vehicle with his SUV twice, at one point nearly pushing her vehicle into oncoming vehicles, telling responding police that she “cut [him] off” in traffic.

In February 2023, Lovell allegedly fired several rounds into his brother-in-law’s Oklahoma home with the same .40-caliber Glock pistol, according to Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond.

The judge reported his gun stolen two days later but apparently had it in his possession. Bullets at the scene of the Texas shooting matched those found at Lovell’s brother’s home. He was indicted for this incident in May.

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Neither of those cases has been resolved. However, to avoid jeopardizing those investigations, a removal petition filed by the Oklahoma Council on Judicial Complaints on June 27 asserts that their intent to temporarily suspend Lovell had nothing to do with these “alleged criminal activities.”

Instead, the petition focuses on the judge’s alleged gross neglect of duty, corruption and misuse of his position. 

Lovell allegedly “engage[d] in ex parte communications with attorneys appearing before him.” He spoke with them one-on-one about cases without other involved attorneys present.

The petition also accuses him of “making disparaging remarks about attorneys appearing before him, publicly evidencing a bias from a particular attorney and setting the amount of bond on criminal charges based on bias for the defendant’s attorney or the defendant.”

Lovell, who is married, also had sex with two different bailiffs, according to the petition. He allegedly exchanged “sexually graphic messages and images with court staff inside the courthouse during courthouse hours” and had “sexual intercourse with court staff inside the courthouse during courthouse hours.”

When Lovell was hired in 2011, he did not disclose his pre-existing sexual relationship with a female bailiff. They allegedly continued that relationship, “including liaisons at the Garfield County Courthouse during courthouse hours.” 

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A petition to suspend Brian Lovell from the bench asserts that, rather than the criminal charges against him, his conduct in court “undermines public confidence in the judiciary.” (Garfield County Court)

They continued their relationship from February of that year until October, when the bailiff disclosed the relationship to another judge and resigned. In a vote, five district judges decided to keep Lovell on the bench. 

Another female bailiff was hired that year, in 2023. Lovell and that bailiff allegedly engaged in sex acts, exchanged explicit texts and took intimate photos for each other in the courthouse multiple times.

Lovell claimed that his relationship with the second bailiff was nothing but “flirtatious texting,” according to the petition, but the bailiff told investigators that the two had been having sex.

The judge also gave preferential treatment to one attorney and his clients, the petition alleges, praising his decisions in court and reaching sweetheart deals in secret text messages.

In one instance, the judge allegedly described the attorney’s decision to not cross-examine a witness as “brilliant.” In another, he allegedly praised the attorney’s cross-examination as “very extensive.” On another occasion, he told the attorney their performance in court was “excellent.” However, no other adjectives were used to compliment other attorneys, according to court minutes reviewed by the body.

At one point, Lovell allegedly disparaged a client but granted him a favorable bond amount, explaining that it was because of who he had chosen to represent him in court.

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Brian Lovell allegedly had sex with two different bailiffs in the Garfield County Courthouse, pictured, during work hours. (Google Maps)

In another instance, Lovell allegedly granted a protective order to a third party business – a funeral home – represented by his favorite attorney without having the authority to do so. 

When he became aware that the council was investigating his actions, Lovell allegedly “seal[ed] a court file with no justification” and “attempt[ed] to persuade an attorney to give false testimony to the Council on Judicial Complaints.”

“[Lovell] has demonstrated a lack of respect for the judicial office with which he is entrusted, and an ongoing pattern of misconduct and dishonesty,” the council wrote.

“The conduct further demonstrates [Lovell’s] lack of temperament to serve as a judge, undermining public confidence in the independence, integrity, impartiality and competence of the judiciary,” the petition continued.

Lovell has until July 8 to contest his interim suspension order, and a motions hearing on the removal effort is slated for July 30.

Stephen Jones, an attorney representing Lovell, told the Enid News & Eagle that his client had been “ambushed by the Oklahoma Council on Judicial Complaints.”

“Judge Lovell was never notified of and for which a response from him was never sought, even though he had a lawyer and was prepared to defend against the allegations, which we repeatedly sought notice of what they were, and repeatedly we were denied that notice,” Jones told the outlet.

Fox News Digital was unable to reach Lovell, the bailiffs mentioned in the petition or the attorney he is accused of giving preferential treatment to.