The Ohio House has passed a bill called the "Charlie Kirk Act" to allow schools to teach about the positive contributions of Christianity to the U.S. in history classes.
The bill passed along party lines, with all Republicans voting for it and all Democrats voting against it.
It was intended to remind teachers that teaching about different religions including Christianity from a historical and cultural perspective is not a violation of the First Amendment.
“It’s 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,” bill co-sponsor Michael Dovilla said after its passage.
Not all religious leaders and clergy support the bill, with some thinking church and state should be completely separated.
Some also feared that the bill would encourage teachers to ignore potential negative effects of religion, such as the way Christianity was used in the South to uphold slavery for a time.
In addition, the Ohio Council for the Social Studies said the bill was redundant and narrow, but Dovilla disagreed.
“It’s essential that we highlight the positive influence religion has had throughout our history,” he said. “Uniting communities, enriching our shared values, and safeguarding our First Amendment rights as Americans to speak and worship freely.”
The bill does not prevent teachers from covering topics that show the negatives of religion, it only encourages the positive to also be included.
“This bill does not impose a belief system, it simply allows teachers and professors to include historical truths that have too often been neglected,” Gabe Guidarini, chairman of the Ohio College Republican Federation, said.
Students should learn “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,” he added.
It's clear that the left wants only the negative parts of religion, if any, to be highlighted in schools.
They think we should worship at the altar of the federal government, which they think provides everything that people need.
In truth, taking religion out of schools and the public square has done nothing but make it worse. Hopefully, this bill will help Ohioans realize the positive impact of Christianity and how important faith was to building America.
