A pair of Ohio Republican lawmakers want public schools and public universities to teach positive impacts of Christianity on American history. No other religion is mentioned in the bill.
Republican state Reps. Gary Click and Mike Dovilla recently introduced Ohio House Bill 486, also known as the Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act. Kirk, a political activist who founded Turning Point USA and often spoke about his Christian faith, was killed while speaking at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10.
The bill does not create a new law but clarifies the law, Click said during Tuesday’s House Education Committee meeting.
“What it does is it removes the invisible shackles that often hinder a full transparency in the teaching of American history,” he said during his sponsor testimony. “We are not inviting instructors to teach doctrine or to proselytize … we’re simply affirming what is already in the law that exists.”
“The United States stands alone in history, in the history of nations, through the overwhelming influence of Christianity on our founding,” Click claimed.
The religions of America’s Founding Fathers had wide variation but most were Protestant. Many came from the Anglican, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist churches, with some Quakers, Lutherans, and Dutch Reformed, and some Catholics.
A significant minority of the founders were Unitarians or Deists, believing in a supreme creator but not in divine intervention. This included Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine.
With the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses as the first and second clauses in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution stands as history’s most notable document establishing religious freedom in a nation at its founding.
Click said he has talked to teachers who are afraid to mention Christianity’s influence on history.
“If we teach it, we’re going to be accused of proselytizing, and we’re going to be accused of trying to convert people to Christianity,” Click said is something he has heard from teachers. He stressed his bill is permissive, not a requirement.
“This legislation allows Ohio’s educators, when teaching American history, to include instruction on the positive influence of religion — particularly Christianity — on the development of our nation’s ideals, its civic institutions, and its culture,” Dovilla said. “This is not about rewriting history. It is about restoring honesty and depth to the way we teach it.”
The bill outlines several examples that could be taught including the history of the pilgrims, the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the religious influence on the U.S. Constitution, Benjamin Franklin’s call for prayer at the constitutional convention, the separation of church and state, the role of the Ten Commandments “in shaping American law,” the Civil Rights movement, and the impact of evangelist Billy Graham, among others, according to the bill’s language.
State Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, D-Gahanna, pointed out how the bill only mentions Christianity.
“The reason it focuses directly on Christianity is because those are the complaints that I have received personally, is that people don’t feel comfortable teaching that,” Click said. “And quite honestly, it is Christianity that was the predominant religion that our nation was established.”
ALCU of Ohio Legislative Director Gary Daniels said the bill is unnecessary, arguing teachers and professors are already allowed to teach about religion in the context of American history.
“The intentions are, quite obviously, to go beyond all of that which is constitutionally permitted and essentially encourage school staff and university staff to propagandize students,” he said.
Baby Olivia Act
State Rep. Melanie Miller, R–Ashland, testified in support of her new bill that would require Ohio public schools to show a video about fetal development to students starting in the third grade.
Ohio House Bill 485 would require showing the three-minute Meet Baby Olivia video and an ultrasound video at least three minutes long. The Baby Olivia video is produced by Live Action, which advocates against abortion.
“The miracle of life is not something that can be easily explained,” Miller said during her testimony. “By equipping students with the resources and knowledge about the remarkable stages of life, we can promote informed discussion grounded in science and respect for human biology.”
Planned Parenthood calls the “Baby Olivia” video “inaccurate, misleading, and manipulative.”
CROWN Act
Ohio state Reps. Juanita Brent, D-Cleveland, and Jamie Callender, R-Concord, spoke in favor of their bill that would ban discrimination against natural hair in public K-12 schools.
House Bill 415 is also known as the CROWN Act, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.
The bipartisan bill prohibits discrimination against someone’s hair texture and protective hair styles such as braids, locs, twists and afros under Ohio’s Civil Rights Laws.
“We know that hair discrimination is still alive and well,” Brent said. “We’ve had situations where … a young lady went to school and she had to get sent home because she had some Afro puffs.”
“We want to make sure our kids are not removed from school. We want to make sure that unnecessary disciplinary actions are not occurring to our kids. We want to make sure that kids feel seen.”
This is the fourth legislative session in a row Brent has introduced the CROWN Act. The bill passed the Ohio House in the last General Assembly, but only had sponsor testimony in the Ohio Senate.
“We were rushing to get it out of committee, to get it on the floor as we approached the last days of session, and it just didn’t make it across the finish line,” Callender said.
Twenty-seven states and Washington D.C., have already enacted the CROWN Act. A handful of Ohio cities — including Columbus, Akron, Cleveland Heights, Cleveland Heights, and Cincinnati — have already enacted the CROWN Act at the local level.
“By passing this bill, we affirm that diversity in our schools should be celebrated, not punished,” Brent said. “Our children deserve to feel safe, seen and valued for who they are.”
Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.
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