OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Senator-elect James Lankford says he’ll bring his biblical worldview to bear on problems like the national debt.

The two-term Republican congressman discussed his Senate goals Wednesday with Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.

Lankford said the Bible’s book of Nehemiah stresses the importance of retiring debt and rebuilding infrastructure. The senator-elect said he’ll also work to protect the religious rights of all Americans, so they can practice their faith in their businesses and every part of life.

The 46-year-old Lankford is a longtime Baptist minister who spent more than a decade as director of Falls Creek, one of the largest Christian youth camps in the country with more than 50,000 attendees annually.

He told Perkins that Americans who are concerned about the nation’s problems should pray as much as they complain.

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