Happy New Year! Center for Christian Virtue's The Rundown is the most important political and cultural news for Christians in Ohio. If you find this newsletter insightful, don't forget to share it!

What's Happening

Ohio

• The best carryover: Passed by the Ohio legislature at the end of the 135th General Assembly last month, Governor DeWine signed the CCV-backed House Bill 8 (HB8) into law yesterday. HB8, also known as the Parents' Bill of Rights, protects the fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding their child’s upbringing, care, and education, and also protects students' right to receive religious education during the school day through religious released time programs like LifeWise Academy and School Ministries Ohio.
  

• New General Assembly: Ohio's 136th General Assembly (GA) opened on Monday, January 6, with the installment of new and returning legislators. Our state representatives and senators have until December 31, 2026, to introduce and pass legislation through the House and Senate. Unlike the contentious upset within House leadership in the last GA, this year's leadership elections went as expected. Each caucus, or a group of legislators who align on specific interests or goals, will have retreats to set their legislative plans for the GA. You can learn more about the Senate and House leadership positions on legislature.ohio.gov. You can also check out the Dispatch's photo highlights from Ohio's inauguration day.
  

• New US Senator: Bernie Moreno, a Westlake Republican, was sworn in as Ohio's US Senator on Friday, replacing Sherrod Brown. Senator Moreno will serve on the US Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; the Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee; the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committee; and the Budget committee. As Senator JD Vance will become Vice President on January 20, Gov. DeWine will appoint his replacement in the US Senate, with Lt. Governor Jon Husted purportedly at the top of the shortlist.
  

• No new pronouns: An Ohio school district will pay $450,000 to a teacher they told to resign for not using so-called preferred pronouns and names for students. The settlement follows an August ruling from the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio that said forcing the teacher to use students’ preferred names was “compelled speech” and that the school’s “pronoun practice was not neutral.”

US

• Biden's goodbye: President Biden's last weeks in office have been filled with a flurry of last-minute revelations–such as his meetings with Hunter Biden's Chinese business contacts, a record number of pardons, including a historical "full and unconditional" pardon for Hunter, awarding the highest civilian honors to the leaders of the January 6 committee and proponents of same-sex marriage, and designating the bald eagle as the official national bird of the US.
  

• New administration: For the first time since 1988, no Democrats objected to certifying a Republican president-elect during Monday's joint session of Congress. President-elect Donald Trump has continued to flesh out his cabinet and administrative positions. 
  

• New victories: Earlier today, a federal court blocked President Joe Biden’s proposed changes to Title IX that would have expanded the definition of sex to include gender identity nationwide and erased single-sex safety, privacy, accommodations, sports, and more. Alliance Defending Freedom helped defend the Tennessee law at the center of the case. This means that laws like Ohio's House Bill 68–the Save Women's Sports Act and SAFE Act–from last year can remain in place without federal conflict.

World

• Old problems: Horrific grooming gangs in the UK have recently come back to light after Oldham officials called on the government to launch a national inquiry into the town’s handling of the crisis. Elon Musk helped bring international attention to the issue, though British lawmakers ultimately voted against investigating the scandal earlier this week. Bari Weiss hosted a conversation on her podcast that helps explain why this issue is still relevant, and why it is relevant in the US–you can listen to the episode on Apple and Spotify.

Listen Up: Inside the Supreme Court Case that will Impact Ohio's SAFE Act with Matt Sharp

Did you miss this insightful episode at the end of last year? Matt Sharp, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, joined The Narrative to discuss the US vs. Skrmetti case, which will determine whether Tennessee's SAFE Act can be upheld to protect children from dangerous, experimental gender surgeries and wrong-sex hormones.

Listen in to hear Matt's thoughts on the oral arguments that took place at the US Supreme Court opening statements in DC and the effects the case will have across the nation.

Worldview Development

As a Christian, knowing how to engage in social-political conversations can be hard. Here is our top recommendation this week for developing your worldview to be equipped to tackle today's top issues:

• Addicted to Dystopia by John Stonestreet and Timothy D Padgett
  Christians must not embrace this kind of victim stance, not any more than we could embrace the utopian fantasies of a century ago. Marxism and theological liberalism twisted Christian notions of justice and history and human potential by downplaying or denying the reality of the Fall. Today, much of American culture feeds on the reality of brokenness brought by the Fall, but without the larger context of Creation and Redemption. It’s as if the world was made broken, and there’s no sense in expecting anything else.

Legislative Update

While our legislators have been sworn in, bills are not yet moving at the Statehouse. We'll keep you updated as new CCV priority bills are introduced!

Click here to learn how a bill becomes a law in Ohio.

Prayer

Scripture calls us to pray for those in authority and to have confidence that God hears our prayers. Join the CCV team this week in praying for the below intentions.

• Pray for the new leadership in the Ohio Senate and House of Representatives and for all of the new legislators to be filled with divine wisdom.

• Pray for the pastors in our Tom Minnery Fellowship as they kick off their first sessions this month that will help them understand and respond biblically to today's pressing cultural issues. 

• We have nearly a dozen schools slated to launch by this fall–pray for finances, document approval, and team cohesion for each of them.

As Ohio’s largest Christian public policy organization, Center for Christian Virtue seeks the good of our neighbors by advocating for public policy that reflects the truth of the Gospel. 

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