Today and tomorrow, the Center for Christian Virtue will host a who’s who of right-wing Republican figures in Columbus. The group’s two-day Essential Summit serves as a prelude for the Ohio March for Life — an annual anti-abortion demonstration happening at the Ohio Statehouse Friday.
The summit is slated to feature state leaders like Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman and Attorney General Dave Yost, as well as Kevin Roberts, the leader of Project 2025, a controversial right-wing transition plan and policy manifesto for a hypothetical future Trump administration.
The religious lobbying organization is among the most well-connected in Ohio’s Republican dominated state legislature. On issues like reproductive rights, school vouchers and transgender issues, CCV has reliably staked out far-right positions.
CCV was engaged from the very earliest stages with the 2023 ballot proposal from Republican lawmakers that would’ve imposed a 60% supermajority passage requirement for all future Ohio constitutional amendments. They’re also opposing the anti-gerrymandering amendment known as Issue 1 on this November’s ballot.
CCV bills The Essential Summit as a way to bridge a purported divide between religion and politics.
“Today,” the website reads, “many Christians believe the Bible doesn’t have anything to say about cultural and political issues. They’ve accepted the myth of the sacred-secular divide. Others feel isolated in their convictions and pressured into silence.”
Project 2025 architect and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts will be delivering the event’s keynote speech. The Heritage Foundation transition plan has prompted so much pushback that former President Trump has publicly disavowed it, despite the fact a variety of officials from his administration helped draft the plan.
Dr. Ben Carson who served as Housing and Urban Development secretary during the Trump administration is scheduled to speak as well as the president of Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian university in Michigan, and the CEO of the Babylon Bee, a conservative satire news site.
Among the Ohio elected officials and lawmakers slated to speak are Attorney General Yost, discussing how Christians can influence the marketplace, and Senate President Huffman, who will be speaking alongside Hillsdale president Larry Arnn. Additionally, state Sen. Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, and state Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania are scheduled for speeches over the two-day conference.
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