An Ohio pastor-turned-lawmaker backs a Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act for schools

Ohio state Rep. Gary Click recalls the comfort he felt going to church as a child and when he declared his faith before a congregation at the age of 12.

"I went down and I just told the Lord, I said, if you want me to be a pastor, I'll be a pastor," Click recounted in an interview.

He did become a Baptist pastor — and later, a lawmaker. Click, 60, is a three-term Ohio legislator. God created three institutions, he says: the family, the home and the government.

"As good stewards, we should be involved in all of those, to one extent or the other," Click says.

He's the architect of the state's ban on gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments for minors. He's backed a range of bills, from less-controversial ones like requiring schools to allow excused absences for religious reasons to hotly debated ones, like restricting abortion and requiring K-12 schools to let students leave during the day for religious study.

But Click says he's not legislating his own religion, because you don't have to be a Christian to agree with what he introduces and advances.

A bill named for Charlie Kirk about teaching religion's impact on America
"The Bible says 'Thou shalt not kill.' Now, am I legislating the Bible if I support laws against murder? No, I'm not," he says. "Says 'Thou shalt not steal.' If we have laws against theft, and actually, I have a burglary bill right now, am I legislating my religion?"

Since last year, Click's been working on passing the Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act. It has passed the state House and is in the Senate.

The bill says it would permit the teaching of the positive impact of "Judeo-Christian" values in U.S. history. It lists two dozen examples, from appeals to divine power in the Declaration of Independence and the religious backgrounds of the signers, to the impact of evangelical Billy Graham.

A couple of other states have similar bills, though they're not named after the slain conservative activist and occasional confidante of President Trump. Click says he hopes his will be a model.

Click named the bill after Kirk, whose rhetoric offended some but resonated with others, because he sees a connection.