Ohio House passes bill that allows schools teach positive impacts of religion on American history
The Ohio House voted to pass a bill that would allow public schools and public universities to teach the positive impacts of Judeo-Christian religion on American history during Wednesday’s House session.
Ohio House Bill 486, also known as the Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act, now heads to the Ohio Senate for consideration.
All the Ohio Democrats present at Wednesday’s session voted against the bill.
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.
Republican state Reps. Gary Click and Mike Dovilla introduced H.B. 486 bill less than two months ago.
The bill originally just mentioned Christianity but an amendment in the House Education Committee broadened the scope of the bill to include Judeo-Christian.
“We’re not talking about indoctrination,” Click claimed. “We’re not talking about preaching students. We’re not talking about narrative religions. We’re not talking about a Bible course. We’re talking about the factual events in history.”
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.
“The bill flies in the face of the First Amendment because the government has no business endorsing or promoting a particular religious tradition,” Ohio Rep. Sean Brennan, D-Parma, said.
“Never once has a teacher ever told me they were afraid to teach about the positive or negative impact of religion on American history.”
The bill outlines several examples that could be taught including the history of the pilgrims, the religious background of 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,” how religious influence shaped the Civil Rights movement, and the impact of evangelist Billy Graham, among others, according to the bill’s language.
“These are examples,” Click said. “It’s not an exhaustive list, but these are examples that can help teachers understand the things that they can teach that are legal or lawful.”
History teachers already teach this in Ohio classrooms, said Brennan, a former teacher.
“I taught many of the very documents listed in this bill,” he said. “… A teacher has nothing to fear, as long as they’re not proselytizing,” Brennan said.
“The Constitution doesn’t prevent us from teaching about religion. It prevents us from promoting it. There’s a big difference there.”
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.
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