Ohio Senate to decide on the Charlie Kirk Act after the House passes it
Statehouse, Columbus, Ohio. (Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)
The Ohio Senate could soon consider a bill that would allow educators to discuss the positive impacts of religion on American history.
State Reps. Gary Click, R-Vickery, and Mike Dovilla, R-Berea, developed House Bill 486, the Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act, after conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk was murdered on Sept. 10.
“Charlie was a committed Christian, whose life and work will serve as a testament to the power of conservative ideals combined with a legacy of faith for generations to come,” Click said in a release.
Dovilla added that it is “essential that we highlight the positive influence religion has had throughout our history – uniting communities, enriching our shared values and safeguarding our First Amendment rights as Americans to speak and worship freely.”
“The teaching of the historical and positive impact of religion on American history is consistent with the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the lawmakers wrote in the bill. “An accurate and historical account of the influence of Christianity on the freedom and liberties ingrained in our culture is imperative to reducing ignorance of American history, hate and violence within our society.”
According to the lawmakers, “accurate historical instruction regarding verifiable, historical impacts of religion on American history is factual and is not proselytization or a violation of the First Amendment.”
All Democrats in the House, as well as many left-wing groups, opposed the bill.
Mackenzie Doyle, justice promoter for the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, also opposed the bill, saying the law would allow educators to lie about American history.
“My other concern is that, as a Christian myself, this presents students with only one half of the story,” Doyle said, according to NBC 4. “For instance, it ignores how Christianity was used to uphold slavery.”
Conservative activists, like Gabe Guidarini, chairman of the Ohio College Republican Federation, said the opposite, claiming that the bill would actually enable the educators to tell the truth about American history.
“This bill does not impose a belief system,” he said. “It simply allows teachers and professors to include historical truths that have too often been neglected — how faith shaped the resolve of the pilgrims, guided our Founders’ convictions, inspired movements that provided us the liberties we enjoy today and informed the moral fabric that has bound our republic together since its birth.”
Other Republican lawmakers, including state Reps. Justin Pizzulli, R-Scioto County, and Roy Klopfenstein, R-Haviland, announced their support for the bill via news releases.
