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On Nov. 13, 2019, the Ohio House of Representatives passed House Bill 164, titled the Ohio Student Religious Liberties Act of 2019. A provision of that bill gave rise to multiple articles bearing headlines such as Ohio Law Would Allow Students to Give Wrong Answers Because of Religious Belief and Ohio House Passes Bill Allowing Student Answers to Be Scientifically Wrong Due to Religion. One such article from Cincinnati television station WKRC, for example, stated that: The actual text of the bill was more nuanced in its wording, however, and did not necessarily support the claims of such headlines. The passage in HB 164 read as follows: Given the wording of this section, it seems fairly clear that under the proposed law students could not, for example, be prohibited from, or downgraded for, crafting essays or art projects around subjects such as Jesus, the Quran, or missionary work when the related assignments afforded students the latitude to choose their topics. But would Sec. 3320.03 really allow students to answer questions about evolution in a biology class by referencing passages from Genesis that contradicted the information imparted by their teachers and offered in their textbooks? Some opponents have asserted the latter would indeed be the case: Others, including the bill's sponsor, maintained that students would still be required to provide answers that conformed to the curriculum as taught: Critics have proclaimed that however the bill is applied, it unnecessarily duplicates constitutional and state freedom of speech and religion protections and would place teachers and school administrators in the position of having to interpret and judge students' religious convictions and beliefs. What HB 164 might ultimately allow or not allow in the intersection of education and religion cannot be definitively determined until it is put into effect and applied to specific cases. As of now the bill still has to be approved by the Ohio Senate and signed by the governor before it becomes law, so any application of it will not take place unless and until those events occur.
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