Christian Nationalism is at the door. Don't answer.

I love my neighbor no matter what he believes, which book he reads, or where he spends Sunday morning.

That’s how this is supposed to work, right? It’s also what the Bible teaches, unless I missed the verse about shoving your own beliefs in other people’s faces.

Louisiana just passed and signed into law a new bill requiring schools to hang “easily readable” posters featuring the Ten Commandments on the walls of every classroom in the state. 

Gov. Jeff Landry and supporters of this legislation claim this is about “historical significance,” not religion. That argument is crap.

Elected leaders are supposed to work to help us and to answer our calls for action. Who does this help? Who was demanding this action?

Writing scripture into government law is not part of the job. They wrote this legislation and voted against freedom of religion JUST TO PROVE THEY CAN. 

We should all be concerned. Whether you realize it yet or not, we are witnessing the beginning of Christian nationalism’s erosion of government, just like Project 2025 promises to do nationally.

I’m running against Troy Balderson, a man who has bowed to Donald Trump and Big Pharma lobbyists for money and power. Like Trump, Troy won’t hesitate to bow to religion as long as someone is signing the check.

We need American patriots in Congress, not Christian nationalists. In a free country, you can’t be both.

My belief in our country and our Constitution comes before any personal or spiritual beliefs I hold. If that’s the kind of leadership you want in Congress, you know what to do.

There are a handful of groups promising legal challenges to this law, but I can guess what the Supreme Court will say, if it gets that far: “states’ rights.”

States don’t have faith. People do.

States also don’t go to school. Our children do.

And the Constitution is clear: states do not have the right to force any American to live according to another individual’s beliefs.

If the Supreme Court allows this law to stand, it will be replicated in every GOP-controlled state in the country. Only Congress can pass a law to stop it.

Separation of church and state is woven into the very fabric of our country, and this law is a direct attack on our increasingly fragile democracy.

These are the words that will hang next to every classroom’s American flag:

Are teachers expected to tell first graders what “covet thy neighbor’s wife” and “adultery” mean? Won’t that contradict their broad anti-gay laws banning “sexual” content?

Our country was founded with a clearly written desire to protect us from any state-mandated belief system. The Supreme Court and GOP lawmakers are making incredibly important choices that are reshaping this nation, and they have already shown their hands.

When I get to Congress, I promise to defend our freedoms and fight back against any effort to rewrite democracy or impose religious tyranny.

If Republicans want to force Americans to learn the Bible, their first student should be Donald Trump. 

Jerrad Christian 

Democrat for OH-12