We need your help to save Ohio public education!
House Bill 486, the Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act, has been referred to the Senate Education Committee after passing out of the Ohio House last year. This disastrous bill reads more like a Turning Point USA pamphlet than a serious civics curriculum. Without action, Christian nationalists will have a brand new tool for indoctrination. Don’t let this bill rewrite American history to their benefit!
HB 486 seeks to turn public schools and colleges into tools of Christian nationalist indoctrination. The bill would encourage schools and universities to promote a one-sided, fictionalized narrative of religion’s “positive” influence on American history. Teachers would be allowed to highlight the supposed Christian underpinnings of American liberty while conveniently ignoring religion’s deeply harmful roles — from justifying slavery and segregation to opposing women’s suffrage, civil rights, LGBTQ+ equality and science itself.
The bill presents an extensive list of cherry-picked or deceptive “historical accounts.” It falsely frames the Ten Commandments as the basis of American law — a myth repeatedly rejected by courts and historians. It treats the addition of “In God We Trust” and “under God” during the Cold War as timeless truths rather than political maneuvers that came nearly 200 years after the nation’s founding. It conflates the Declaration of Independence, with its sparse Enlightenment-era deistic references, with the godless U.S. Constitution.
Even worse, as examples of “accurate and historical instruction,” the bill lists various blatant falsehoods, such as the “historic role of the black robe regiment” — a whole-cloth lie invented by pseudo-historian David Barton and Glenn Beck, and the claim that Benjamin Franklin suggested to Thomas Paine that he should burn his book “The Age of Reason,” even though Franklin died in 1790 and Paine did not begin writing The Age of Reason until 1794. The bill’s sponsors were made aware of these obvious mistakes last year but kept them in the bill.
HB 486 is a desperate attempt to distort American history. Eroding education has been a long-term goal for religious lawmakers to perpetuate their ideology — But you still have a chance to fight back. Please don’t waste this opportunity to stop this bill! We have included suggested language through the “Take Action” button that can be edited by clicking or tapping on the pencil icon. The best way to get committee members’ attention is to share your personal perspective, so please take the time to share your own story if you can.
Additionally, after sending the emails, you will be prompted to call lawmakers as well — even leaving a phone message shows your dedication to the cause! For best results, please be succinct and polite.
(Note: You must live in Ohio to take part in this action alert.)