Does Trump’s anti-Christian bias executive order favor one religion? What experts say

President Trump announced plans to rid the U.S. of “anti-Christian bias” and establish a White House Faith Office. Screengrab from The White House's Facebook video.

Originally published April 29, 2025 for the Miami Herald

President Donald Trump’s executive order promising to “end the anti-Christian weaponization of government” raised questions for some about what it means for the First Amendment right of religious freedom.

The order, issued Thursday, Feb. 6, puts in place a task force — led by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi — to investigate policies that the administration said target Christians. The next day, Trump signed another order establishing a White House Faith Office to “protect religious liberty.”

In the first few weeks of his second term, Trump and his administration’s polices have prompted legal challenges, and some have called into question if the administration’s actions are on par with the rule of law. For some Americans, some new executive orders amplify tensions over the constitutional separation of church and state.

“The government’s job is to protect everyone’s rights, not give special treatment to one religion. Will this office defend non-Christians and the nonreligious, or just push a Christian nationalist agenda?” The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a nonprofit working for the separation of church and state, said in a Feb. 7 statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.

What do experts say?

Rick Garnett, director of Notre Dame’s program on Church, State & Society, told McClatchy News he thinks the executive order to eradicate anti-Christian bias is “appropriate” as a response to reports of the FBI targeting some conservative Catholic groups.

The order cites a retracted 2023 FBI memorandum that suggested infiltrating Catholic churches as “threat mitigation,” among other examples of what the Trump administration sees as anti-Christian bias.

“It is not unconstitutional for an agency or administration to identify a particular problem, and to respond to that particular problem. For example, it was common, after 9/11, for agencies to take particular steps to safeguard against anti-Muslim bias,” Garnett said in an email.

Caroline Corbin, professor at the University of Miami School of Law, agreed that narrowing in on one religion is not necessarily considered favoring one over another. However, she said bigger context surrounding this executive order makes it a little more complex.

“Christians are not, in fact, discriminated against and persecuted in the United States,” Corbin told McClatchy News. “So there doesn’t really seem to be a need to focus on discrimination against Christians.”

As this directive is set forth, other actions targeting groups for erasure are also happening, Corbin said, adding that she thinks the Trump administration wants to deny discrimination against non-Christian groups.

The Trump administration has signed executive orders restricting transgender rights and ending diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal workforce.

Corbin said the preference for Christianity seen in this context does raise constitutional problems about favoring one religion over another.

Charles Haynes, founder of the Freedom Forum’s Religious Freedom Center, told McClatchy News that it seems like a range of issues surrounding abortion, LGBTQ rights and religious liberty are seen by the Trump administration as anti-Christian bias.

“It’s little ironic to think that the people who are in the majority — and many places in the country, many states who have great political power — are claiming to be under attack, but from their perspective, the government went off the rails ... and disfavored them because they don’t like their views on the social issues,” Haynes said.

He said that in choosing to focus on anti-Christian bias rather than another religion or non-religion, Trump is fulfilling his campaign promises to a constituency made up of mostly conservative Christians.

Haynes said that while he thinks it’s clear Trump is favoring one religion over another, it doesn’t go as far as to become unconstitutional.

“It would have to be more — have to be government action that somehow favors conservative Christian groups over other religious groups,” Haynes said. “This could be seen more as an effort to fight a societal problem, so the government can do that.”

What do some evangelical Christians think?

According to data from the Survey Center on American Life, a growing number of white evangelical Christians do think Christianity is under attack.

In 2009, a majority of white evangelicals disagreed that evangelical Christians faced a lot of discrimination in the U.S. In 2023, however, the numbers flipped, and this notion became generally accepted, with 60% of white evangelicals believing evangelical Christians are regularly discriminated against.

“Anti-Christian bias is very real in the U.S. Hostility towards Bible believing followers of Jesus is growing,” Jack Graham, pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas, said in a Feb. 7 statement on X. “I am grateful for President Trumps order for protection under the law.”