The Center for Inquiry’s (CFI) Office of Public Policy is urging Ohio residents to contact their State Senators and voice their opposition to HB 486, which would authorize public schools to teach an inaccurate, Christian nationalist version of American history that touts the supposed positive impacts of religion, including the “influence of religion on the United States Constitution.”

On November 18, CFI’s director of government affairs, Azhar Majeed, submitted written testimony to the chair of the House Education Committee denouncing HB 486, which Majeed lamented would order public school teachers to cite the supposed “role of the Ten Commandments in shaping American law” and force them to teach the idea that “‘religion, morality and knowledge’ are essential to good government.” Majeed wrote:

“It is a false premise that religion—and Christianity, specifically—were influential in the drafting of the U.S. Constitution and the development of American law. Rather, the U.S. Constitution broke ground as a secular prescription for federal governance where the only references to religion are exclusionary.”

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The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a nonprofit educational, advocacy, and research organization headquartered in Amherst, New York, with executive offices in Washington, D.C. It is also home to the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science, the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and the Council for Secular Humanism. The Center for Inquiry strives to foster a secular society based on reason, science, freedom of inquiry, and humanist values. Visit CFI on the web at www.centerforinquiry.org.