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Republican senators from Ohio have passed a bill that would allow the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms. This is just one of the latest pieces of legislation to add more Christianity to the education system.
One of the longest battles of all time: How involved should religion be in government? For some state legislators, that wasn’t enough.
“It is inexcusable that more attention has not been paid to these historic texts,” said Sen. Terry Johnson, R-McDermott.
Most GOP senators accepted SB 34which would require public schools to place “history” texts in classrooms.
The list includes the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Articles of Confederation, the mottos of both the United States and Ohio, the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, the Northwest Ordinance, and the Ten Commandments.
“This bill will enable our students to become familiar with the documents that in America have formed the backbone of our legal and moral traditions,” Johnson said.
Of the nine documents listed, school districts must select only four. But Democrats say it’s a mandate.
“Did you notice this little bit if anyone gives [documents]Will someone donate them or will they then have to put them on display?” Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, said.
Antonio, a former educator, said it was unconstitutional to place religious texts in public school classrooms.
“Showing these children that a religious practice document is above all else is inappropriate,” Antonio continued. “
This is not the intention of the founders, it is completely contrary to the separation of church and state and I think it is an abomination.”
Retired Case Western Reserve University constitutional law professor Jonathan Entin said the legislation does raise First Amendment concerns.
“The idea was that you wanted to keep the government out of religious matters,” Entin said.
However, he referred to three rulings of the Supreme Court of the United States from several decades ago.
In the 1980 case of Stone v. Graham, the justices found that displaying the Ten Commandments in Kentucky schools violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
In 2005, judges extended the 1980 ban to Kentucky courts.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 issued a ruling in Van Orden v. Perry that allowed the Ten Commandments in public spaces in Texas because it was not the only “historical document” on display.
“The court found that because the Ten Commandments are part of a larger message or a larger set of elements, it is a less clearly religious message than the Ten Commandments themselves,” Entin said.
In recent years, other states have pushed for religious doctrines to be introduced in schools.
A court recently ordered Texas school districts to remove the Ten Commandments from classrooms by Monday.
Entin, however, said the makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court is different now and Republican states may feel the justices would be more willing to rethink these issues.
“[The Court is] more conservative, and the majority seem more favorable to the public display of religious objects,” the professor said.
Another bill that recently passed the House would allow K-12 public schools and college professors to provide instruction on the “positive” impact of religion on American history.
GOP headlined HB 486 “The Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act.”
“Many of our adults don’t really understand the roots of America and our founding principles, which are rooted in Christianity, and that’s why we have freedom, that’s why we have liberty,” said Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery. “I think we should be free to teach it.”
He said the bill does not allow people to proselytize – proselytize or attempt to convert students – but takes into account how Christianity has positively influenced policies such as the “Native American Treaty” and how the Ten Commandments have shaped federal law.
Antonio moved away.
“There is a movement in this country to make us a Christian nation country and these are the first steps in that direction,” Antonio said.
Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, cautioned against promoting religious ideology.
“A wise friend in Texas said something that my people, the Jewish people, know well from our history to be true, which is: ‘A government powerful enough to impose religion is powerful enough to take it away,’” Isaacsohn said.
The House also passed HB 485which would require fifth-graders and older to watch “Meet Baby Olivia,” a GOP-backed animated fetal development video created by the anti-abortion group Live Action.
“Children are a gift, and we hope that we can change the culture to celebrate life, not destroy it,” said state Rep. Melanie Miller, R-Ashland.
The development cycle and graphics shown in the video conflict with research from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
In urging passage of the bill in the House of Representatives, Miller quoted the Bible.
Abortion rights supporters pointed out the film’s medical inaccuracies.
“They want to be able to impose their views, their religious views – let’s be clear – on everyone else,” said Kellie Copeland, an abortion rights activist, adding that the video was medically wrong and offensive.
Each of these bills will be considered in the opposite chamber in the coming months.
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This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and are published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication on other news outlets because it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.
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