Efforts to quash what President Donald Trump’s administration perceives as “anti-Christian bias” had been formally launched with a gathering amongst members of a job power established beneath a presidential govt order issued earlier this 12 months.
The assembly, led by Lawyer Common Pam Bondi on April 22, invited Cupboard members and three People who establish as Christians to share particular experiences of anti-Christian bias within the federal authorities and introduced readability as to what the duty power might be seeking to eradicate.
“Together, this task force will identify any unlawful anti-Christian policies, practices or conduct across the government, seek input from the faith-based organizations and state governments to end anti-Christian bias, find and fix deficiencies in existing and regulatory practices that might contribute to the anti-Christian bias,” Bondi stated through the assembly’s opening remarks.
The Freedom From Faith Basis referred to as the duty power a “sham” and stated it’s encouraging Christian entitlement, in response to an April 22 assertion on X, previously referred to as Twitter.
“The Constitution demands neutrality, not special treatment for one religion,” the group stated.
Sixty % of white evangelicals stated they consider evangelical Christians are commonly discriminated in opposition to in 2023, up 18 factors from 2009.
What anti-Christian cases had been introduced up through the job power?
Hicks spoke about how Liberty College and Grand Canyon College had been “singled out” beneath the Biden administration and obtained Schooling Division fines “due to the schools’ Christian worldview.”
Mendes stated he was fired for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine due to his non secular beliefs.
Farris introduced up how his church had been charged by the IRS for violations in opposition to the Johnson Modification, a tax code that prohibits church buildings and different tax-exempt organizations from taking part in political marketing campaign exercise, in response to the discharge. Throughout Trump’s first time period, he vowed to eliminate the modification, NPR reported.
Different members of the duty power additionally shared examples of anti-Christian bias that they had seen.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke about retaliation in opposition to federal staff for opposing DEI and LGBT ideology on non secular grounds, and Secretary of the Division of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins stated a chaplain was reprimanded beneath the Biden administration for preaching a sermon from the Bible.
In a press release on Fb later that night, Farris stated he was “blown away” by the “frank stories of terrible treatment of Christians by the prior administration.”
“If every believer could have seen this in person their hearts would be overflowing tonight,” he stated.
How is Trump’s anti-Christian bias order already impacting the federal government?
Earlier this month, the Trump administration despatched a cable out beneath Rubio’s title encouraging State Division staff to self-report on experiences with anti-Christian bias amongst their co-workers utilizing an nameless tip type, Politico reported.
A few of these findings had been to be mentioned on the inaugural job power assembly, in response to the cable, Politico reported.
Moreover, through the job power assembly, Bondi stated three instances in opposition to people who find themselves pro-life had been dropped and the FACE Act was redefined.
“Protecting Christians from bias is not favoritism. It’s upholding the rule of law and fulfilling the constitutional promise,” she stated. “We have an incredible opportunity — all of us around this table — to protect the rights of all citizens from discrimination based on their religious beliefs.”
