The following article appeared in the Columbus Dispatch on December 14, 2025.
December 15 at 12:12 PM 2025
By Victoria Moorwood Jessie Balmert Cincinnati Enquirer
The Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) has grown from a small anti-pornography group into Ohio's largest Christian policy organization.
CCV has significantly influenced state legislation, backing bills on abortion, LGBTQ rights, and school vouchers.
The group's revenue has quadrupled since 2020, and it now operates from a headquarters across from the Ohio Statehouse.
COLUMBUS, OH ‒ People stomped their feet, sang and clapped their hands.
They reached their arms to the ceiling, tears streaming down their faces.
The rows of seats gave the appearance of a fervent church congregation.
But it wasn't a church. It was the Ohio Statehouse.
This was the scene at Prayer at the Statehouse, hosted by the Center for Christian Virtue, in August.
The nonprofit began as a little-known group of anti-pornography crusaders in Cincinnati over 40 years ago. Now, it is Ohio's largest Christian policy group with headquarters directly across from the Statehouse.
Over the past decade, CCV has lobbied on more than 300 bills and created a network of religious schools and churches. Since 2020, its revenue has quadrupled, raising more than $4 million last year.
CCV is backed by major conservative groups and figures such as the Heritage Foundation. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was slated to be a keynote speaker at CCV's Sept. 26 gala. He was assassinated on Sept. 10 during a Turning Point USA event in Utah.
Voters and lawmakers who support CCV's mission see the organization as "advocating for what is right" in Ohio. Opponents say the group's growing leverage is "dangerous" and blurs the lines between church and state.
CCV has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its anti-LGBTQ stances. The group's president previously dismissed the center as "liberal political hacks" on social media.
At the August prayer event, attendees laid their hands on Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who knelt on the floor with his palms outstretched to receive prayers from religious leaders. Months earlier, CCV's president had endorsed Yost's competitor, Vivek Ramaswamy, for Ohio governor.
A pastor lectured about premarital abstinence and the "sanctity" of heterosexual marriage. Secretary of State Frank LaRose, also a Republican, addressed those who might find prayer in the Statehouse "out of place."
“I think it is altogether appropriate that we raise the mighty name of the Lord here in this house where this work is done,” LaRose said.
The Center for Christian Virtue's growing influence represents a shift in how Christian conservatives engage with politics in Ohio and nationwide. The libertarian bent in Republican politics is fading. Now, Christian lobbyists are shaping the legislative agenda in red states like Ohio.
"We are starting to see a trend that also reflects the national trend right now, of a conservative party that is more about forcing Christian values on everyone and less about a ‘live and let live,’ free-market philosophy," said Jessie Hill, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University who has challenged Ohio's abortion restrictions.
Founded in the basement of College Hill Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati in 1983, CCV, then called Citizens for Community Values, was waging culture wars before they were even called culture wars.
The group protested against the controversial Robert Mapplethorpe photography exhibit in Cincinnati, which included some nude photos of children and gay sadistic and masochistic culture. That fight spurred obscenity charges against the arts center and its director, but a jury threw out those charges.
In 1993, CCV pushed through a ban on Cincinnati laws protecting gay people from discrimination. That was repealed 11 years later.
In 2004, the group led a successful ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriages in Ohio. That language became moot in 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages in a case brought by Cincinnati native Jim Obergefell.
CCV was led by Phil Burress, a recovering porn addict, until he retired in 2016. The nonprofit's leadership team wanted a successor who would steer the group in a policy-focused direction.
Enter CCV's current president, Aaron Baer. A Warren, Ohio, native, Baer worked for a conservative policy group in Arizona and as a policy advisor for Arizona's Republican attorney general.
“There’s no filling (Burress') shoes," Baer said at CCV's Columbus headquarters in September. "So, for them, it was: 'How do we take this foundation we’ve laid and grow it into what's next?'"
Under Baer's leadership, CCV has expanded the issues it champions and its influence. It's become a policy powerhouse in Ohio.
The Christian lobbyists were instrumental in changing state law to allow every private school student to take advantage of taxpayer-funded scholarships, known as EdChoice vouchers. Public school leaders vehemently opposed the change, which sparked a legal battle.
CCV championed a statewide ban on gender-affirming care for minors and rules that prohibit transgender girls from participating in women's sports. It helped enact a law that bans transgender students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
CCV also helped pass a ban on most abortions, which blocked access to the procedure for months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Ohio made national headlines after a young rape victim was forced to travel to Indiana for an abortion.
“They work hard, and they’re relentless. They’re not afraid to take on big battles,” said state Sen. Kristina Roegner, a Republican in Akron's metro area who sponsored the 2019 abortion ban. Her son-in-law works for Christian Business Partnerships, CCV's chamber of commerce for Christian business owners.
Despite their growing influence, the Christian lobbyists aren't always victorious. In 2023, Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment to protect abortion access and rejected the CCV-backed abortion ban. Voters also shot down an effort to make it harder to amend the state constitution, which was aimed at blocking the abortion measure.
Starting in 2021, CCV has spent millions on property in downtown Columbus, including its current headquarters, the old Columbus Dispatch building, which it bought for $1.1 million in 2023.
As CCV's leader, Baer made over $228,000 in 2024 between his salary and other compensation, according to public tax documents.
“Their influence grew significantly when they decided to set up a presence across the street from the Statehouse," said Natalie Hastings, an organizer and researcher for Honesty for Ohio Education, which opposes private school voucher expansion and opposes eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion in public schools.
“That’s when we began to see at least one rep from CCV showing up for virtually any hearing that I was interested in."
But powerful? Baer shrugged off that description.
"I don't really try to measure us in terms of power or things like that," Baer said. "We try to look at ourselves in terms of results."
CCV's most recent win came this summer. While lawmakers debated a tight budget that cut income taxes, they found $20 million for a CCV-backed Responsible Fatherhood Initiative that awards grants to nonprofits that provide support to fathers.
Bolstering families is likely going to be the nonprofit's focus for the next decade, CCV spokesman Mike Andrews said. Unmarried people were most likely to oppose abortion restrictions, the group found after the 2023 constitutional amendment passed.
"The decline of marriage and collapse of family are at the root of everything we’re dealing with," Baer said. "And we’re gonna keep spinning our tires if we don’t see more young people choosing to get married younger, and choosing to have more kids."
CCV's focus on the family reflects a nationwide conservative push. Vice President JD Vance, a father of three, told attendees at the 2025 March for Lifein Washington, D.C., that a "culture of radical individualism" had led Americans to see the responsibilities and joys of parenthood as obstacles.
“Our society has failed to recognize the obligation that one generation has to another as a core part of living in a society,” the former Ohio senator said. “So let me say very simply, I want more babies in the United States of America.”
Unlike other influential lobbying groups in Columbus, CCV doesn't regularly make large donations or endorse candidates. Most of its influence comes from grassroots support.
“They have relied on a really extensive network of former legislators and former leaders within the conservative Christian family values movement," said Hastings, with Honesty for Ohio Education. "They’ve been able to really press where they need to press."
Baer, as an individual, endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy, whom Christian conservatives have challenged over his Hindu faith as he runs for governor in the 2026 election.
Donations to candidates and ballot campaigns have been few and far between. The group spent $100,000 trying to block Ohio's abortion rights amendment in 2023, according to state campaign finance data. The nonprofit also donated $5,000 to oppose a 2024 ballot measure that would have established a citizen redistricting commission.
For decades, CCV employees ‒ and its previous leader, Burress ‒ have donated to Republican groups and officials, including LaRose and Ohio Rep. Josh Williams, ranging from $5 to $2,500. Baer has not donated to Ohio or federal campaigns, campaign finance data shows.
So, without large campaign donations and endorsements, how does the group influence lawmakers?
For one, they are already singing from the same hymn sheet as many Republican lawmakers.
Williams, a Republican who represents a district outside Toledo, sought out CCV while running for the state Legislature in 2022. Since then, he’s worked with the Christian lobbyists on several bills, including one to ban gender-affirming care for minors and prevent transgender girls from participating in women’s sports.
Williams also sponsored a CCV-backed bill to ban public drag performances outside of adult cabaret venues, called the “Indecent Exposure Act.”
Williams, who is running for Congress against U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, disagrees with CCV on some issues, notably the expansion of gambling. The Christian lobbyists see gambling as predatory and damaging to Ohio’s families.
But CCV doesn’t demand blind loyalty from lawmakers – unlike other lobbyists in Columbus, Williams said.
“Where we’re aligned, we work together. Where we don’t, I crack jokes with them when I walk past them in the hallway.”
Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, a Cleveland-area Democrat, said she’s watched CCV expand from a group that occasionally lobbied on bills to one that hands legislation to Republicans to advance.
“They seem determined to take away the rights of people, to devalue some people in the state of Ohio, and to be judgmental in their policies," said Antonio, Ohio's first out gay lawmaker. “They are a very political, politically charged, one-sided organization for sure."
CCV promotes legislation and encourages Christians to the polls outside the Statehouse, too.
Through its Minnery Fellowship, CCV offers online training for pastors to help them “speak to the difficult cultural and political issues facing their members today,” according to the fellowship's website. A page on CCV’s website advises pastors how to legally support political candidates and get their congregations to engage with legislation.
Baer said there are more than 4,000 "church ambassadors" in CCV's network.
Through churches, CCV disperses what it calls its nonpartisan Buckeye Ballot guides. The guides include lists of federal and state candidates and issues.
CCV did not respond to emailed requests for a ballot guide.
The Christian lobbying group also hosts events, including Prayer at the Statehouse and March for Life, an annual anti-abortion demonstration in downtown Columbus. Supporters who attend these gatherings are politically engaged.
Joy Vallen, 58, and her husband Dennis, 71, drove more than two hours from their home in Kent, Ohio, to attend the Statehouse prayer. Joy used the opportunity to pray that House Bill 240 ‒ which would allow public schools to hire chaplains ‒ would pass.
At the March for Life demonstration, Carla Brown, who's on CCV’s email list, said preventing abortion is a top priority for her when voting.
"To me, the right to life is the fundamental right upon which all other rights are based," said the Groveport resident.
The line between church and state lies in the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
But in Ohio and across the nation, that line is blurring.
“States like Oklahoma and Texas are requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in public schools again. This hasn't happened in the past half-century," said Hill, the Case Western professor. The Ohio Senate recently passed a similar bill. "It just feels like there's no limit – no real, firm dividing line anymore that we can count on to separate church and state."
CCV may be benefiting from national conservative think tanks following this trend, Hill said. Last year, the Heritage Foundation awarded CCV $100,000 to expand its Christian Education Network, which helps churches run daily Christian schools.
Baer acknowledged that non-Christians can be good leaders and that not all Christians are good elected officials. He said the church should influence the government, but "the government should absolutely stay out of the business of the church."
“I think on the whole, the more Christian influence we have, the better off we're gonna be,” Baer said. “I think a lot of the struggles you're seeing in our country today are because that Christian influence, that Christian culture, is wavering."
Roegner and Williams, two Republicans who support CCV, agreed that lawmakers shouldn't leave their faith at the front doors of the Ohio Statehouse.
"I don’t believe that there is a separation of church and state. I believe that there is a requirement that the government does not endorse a single church or religion as the national church or religion,” Williams said. “My Christian morals will continue to guide me in the legislative process, and at no time will I abandon those morals simply to seek reelection.”
But Antonio, the Senate Democratic leader, said she’s concerned about what she sees as the disappearing line between church and state in legislation pushed by CCV.
“It’s very dangerous. It’s exclusionary. It leaves people out," she said.
Hill doesn't think political groups' move toward Christian conservatism reflects how most voters feel.
“I think it's all about who holds the levers of power," she said. "It's not in any sense a reflection of the culture, or the zeitgeist or what people in Ohio actually want or the democratic will. I think it's just the opposite. It's about who's got the ear of powerful people."
This story was funded through a grant administered by the Poynter Institute, a nonpartisan journalism-training organization, with support from the Joyce Foundation