Conservative commentator Matt Walsh is urging red states, such as Florida, to reject the idea of putting Christian chaplains in public schools.
The Daily Wire host spoke against such bills on his podcast earlier this week. While saying he favored bringing more Christianity into public schools, such as allowing prayer in classrooms, Walsh said he was not confident that school districts would hire chaplains who teach authentic biblical truths.
Rather, it will be another opportunity for liberal school systems to inculcate the students with more wokeism, he suggested.
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According to Walsh, such bills have been introduced in 14 states, which have modeled their bills after a law passed in Texas last year.
Florida lawmakers sent Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis such a bill this session.
According to the measure, which GOP lawmakers pushed through largely along party lines, the chaplains would be volunteers. Schools would be required to inform all parents of the chaplain’s services and programs and give their written before a student participates in activities overseen by the school chaplain.
The bill also mandates that parents be given an opportunity to select a school chaplain from the list provided by the school district, which must include the chaplain’s religious affiliation, if any.
Walsh noted that a group pushing the idea believes it’s way to “address policy issues from a biblical worldview” and bring in new Christian converts.
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Still, Walsh criticized the idea because of its unknown or unintended consequences.
“I think it’s a bad one,” he said, “not because I have any problem with bringing Christianity into education. I’m in favor of that in principle anyway. I think there should be prayer in the classroom.”
In fact, despite the anti-Christian rhetoric of liberals, Walsh explained that in America “religion and the state can never be fully separated.”
“Our country was founded on a religious doctrine, which is the doctrine of inherent human rights endowed by the Creator. It’s one of our foundational ideas. It’s a religious idea, it’s a religious doctrine,” he said.
“I still don’t like the idea of chaplains in public school,” he continued. “And the reason is simple: Do we have any reason to believe that these ministers will actually know the gospel and teach it? Like do we have, do we have any confidence in that? I don’t.”
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“In fact, what I’m confident in is the fact that you start bringing these chaplains in – and I don’t care if it’s in Texas, if it’s in Florida – it will still be the same situation most likely.”
“Who are those chaplains gonna be? There are going to be liberals who preach the gospel of tolerance. And how do I know that? Well, I know that because that’s what you find in most churches,” Walsh added.
“And the idea that you’ll find something better in public school is absurd.”
“Maybe with rare exception, these are not gonna be conservative Christians who are very grounded in scripture. That’s not what it’s gonna be,” said Walsh.
“It’ll be chaplains who teach the kids that, you know, God wants them to be tolerant and accept everybody for who they are. And there’s no such thing as sin. And you know, we shouldn’t feel ashamed of anything that we’ve done. … We certainly shouldn’t feel ashamed of anything that we call our identity. … Let’s not judge anyone or anything. Let’s not engage in any judgment whatsoever. This is what it’s gonna be.”
“I would rather have schools ignore Christianity or even preach against it rather than preach a perverted form of it,” he concluded. “If it sounds sort of like a lose-lose situation with the public school system, that’s because it is.”
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