(NewsNation) — Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters defended a controversial video he required public school superintendents to play for students where he prays over Republican President-elect Donald Trump, saying Tuesday that he has “religious beliefs as well that I get the freedom to express.”
In a video to announce the creation of the Education Department’s Office of Religious Freedom and Patriotism, Walters said he prays “for President Donald Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change to the country.”
According to a press release, the new office is meant to “oversee the investigation of abuses to individual religious freedom or displays of patriotism.”
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Speaking on “Morning in America,” Walters said he made it “crystal clear” in the video that students don’t have to pray if they don’t want to.
“We all have the free exercise of our religious beliefs that was essential in the foundation of this country,” Walters said. “We’re going to protect that.”
The office of state Attorney General Gentner Drummond issued a statement Friday saying Walters isn’t able to issue a mandate that schools watch the video.
“Not only is this edict unenforceable, it is contrary to parents’ rights, local control and individual free-exercise rights,” the statement said.
Some school districts, including two of the state’s largest, said they do not plan to show the video to students. Walters already faces two lawsuits over his June mandate that schools incorporate the Bible into lesson plans for students in grades 5 through 12.
“Look, every county here voted for President Trump. We want to have prayer back in school,” Walters said. “President Trump won an overwhelming election speaking unapologetically about getting our schools back on track. Protecting religious liberty is absolutely crucial in that.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.