Trump’s anti-Christian bias task force begins. Here’s what they’re watching for

Attorney General Pam Bondi launches Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias on April 22, established under President Trump’s executive order issued in February. Screengrab from U.S. Department of Justice video

Originally published April 23, 2025 for the Miami Herald

Efforts to quash what President Donald Trump’s administration perceives as “anti-Christian bias” were formally launched with a meeting among members of a task force established under a presidential executive order issued earlier this year.

The meeting, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi on April 22, invited Cabinet members and three Americans who identify as Christians to share specific experiences of anti-Christian bias in the federal government and brought clarity as to what the task force will be looking 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 said during the meeting’s opening remarks.

While some experts welcomed Trump’s executive order on eradicating anti-Christian bias when it was announced in February, others raised alarm about what it meant for non-Christian groups, McClatchy News reported. The Freedom From Religion Foundation called the task force a “sham” and said it’s encouraging Christian entitlement, according to an April 22 statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The Constitution demands neutrality, not special treatment for one religion,” the organization said.

Nevertheless, a growing number of white evangelical Christians are concerned that Christianity is under attack in the U.S., according to data from the Survey Center on American Life, McClatchy News reported.

Sixty percent of white evangelicals said they believe evangelical Christians are regularly discriminated against in 2023, up 18 points from 2009.

What anti-Christian instances were brought up during the task force?

Three non-task force members — Scott Hicks, provost and chief academic officer at Liberty University; Phil Mendes, a former Navy SEAL; and Michael Farris, founding president of Patrick Henry College — were invited to speak about their experiences with anti-Christian bias, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.

Hicks spoke about how Liberty University and Grand Canyon University had been “singled out” under the Biden administration and received Education Department fines “due to the schools’ Christian worldview.”

Mendes said he was fired for not getting the COVID-19 vaccine because of his religious beliefs.

Farris brought up how his church had been charged by the IRS for violations against the Johnson Amendment, a tax code that prohibits churches and other tax-exempt organizations from participating in political campaign activity, according to the release. During Trump’s first term, he vowed to get rid of the amendment, NPR reported.

Other members of the task force also shared examples of anti-Christian bias they had seen.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke about retaliation against federal workers for opposing DEI and LGBT ideology on religious grounds, and Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins said a chaplain was reprimanded under the Biden administration for preaching a sermon from the Bible.

In a statement on Facebook later that evening, Farris said 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 said.

How is Trump’s anti-Christian bias order already impacting the government?

Earlier this month, the Trump administration sent a cable out under Rubio’s name encouraging State Department employees to self-report on experiences with anti-Christian bias among their co-workers using an anonymous tip form, POLITICO reported.

Some of these findings were to be discussed at the inaugural task force meeting, according to the cable, POLITICO reported.

More recently, the Department of Veterans Affairs asked staff members in an email to “report any examples of anti-Christian bias,” Hemant Mehta, an American blogger and atheist activist, said in an April 22 statement on X.

According to Mehta, the email requested 11 things, including “adverse responses to requests for religious exemption under the previous vaccine mandates,” “any mistreatment or reprimand issued in response to displays of Christian imagery or symbols” and “any retaliatory actions taken or threatened in response to abstaining from certain procedures or treatments.”

Additionally, during the task force meeting, Bondi said three cases against people who are pro-life were 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 said. “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.”

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 February 10, 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.”

Trump immigration order ‘invades our sacred space,’ Quaker groups say in lawsuit

Originally published January 28, 2025 for the Miami Herald

Nearly 400 years after members of the Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, arrived in America in pursuit of religious freedom, a new immigration policy threatens the ability of the religious group to freely practice their beliefs, according to a lawsuit.

Five Quaker groups — including the first formal association of Quakers in the world — filed a lawsuit Jan. 27 against the Department of Homeland Security over a new Trump administration policy rescinding a previous guideline in which immigration officials could not enforce actions in “sensitive” locations, such as schools and places of worship.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement made 956 arrests Jan. 26, according to a Facebook post by the agency.

“A week ago today, President Trump swore an oath to defend the Constitution and yet today religious institutions that have existed since the 1600s in our country are having to go to court to challenge what is a violation of every individual’s Constitutional right to worship,” Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward, the organization representing the Quaker groups, said in a Jan. 27 news release.

Several religious leaders have spoken out against the new policy, and while other nonprofit organizations — some stemming from religious groups — have filed similar lawsuits on account of the new policy, this is the first lawsuit filed directly from a faith-based organization.

A DHS spokesperson told McClatchy News in a Jan. 27 email the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit

The 40-page lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, argues that the new immigration order violates fundamentals of the Quaker religious experience, including communal worship.

“For (Quaker congregations) communal worship is not just important, it is the very process of worship itself,” prosecutors said.

In Quaker worship, people sit together in silence and wait to hear from God. Then, anyone attending worship is encouraged to stand and share that message, according to the complaint.

“Quakers believe that those with varied life experiences — including immigrants — can provide unique messages from God. Being able to receive those messages is fundamental to the Quaker religious exercise,” prosecutors said.

The new policy has instilled fear in migrant-friendly congregations and led to the cancellation of some worship services, according to the complaint.

“Our faith requires us to do justice, oppose war and violence, love our neighbors (with no exceptions) and to make decisions with everyone in the room,” the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, one of the Quaker groups represented in the lawsuit, said in the release. “ ... The DHS policy impedes all of these things and invades our sacred space and ability to worship freely.”

The Quaker groups want any policy permitting immigration-enforcement at or near houses of worship to be declared unconstitutional, according to the lawsuit.

Quakers and social justice

Quakers have a long history of involvement in human rights and social justice causes.

They have been involved in advocating for the protection of Native Americans’ rights, were early abolitionists and had many leaders involved in the women’s suffrage movement, according to History.com

The Catholic voting gap was the largest in decades, polls show. Whom did they choose?

Originally published November 6, 2024 for the Miami Herald

As ballots were counted late into the evening on Tuesday, Nov. 5, U.S. Catholics — a group experts see as “sharply divided by party” — broke for former President Donald Trump by a historically large margin nationwide, exit polls revealed.

Fifty-eight percent of U.S. Catholics favored Trump, compared to 40% who supported Vice President Kamala Harris, according to exit polls from NBC News, The Washington Post and CNN. The 18-point margin represents the largest voting gap among the group in decades.

According to the NBC News poll of key states, the divide was even more pronounced among white Catholics, who favored Trump 60% compared to 37% for Harris. In the 2020 election, 57% supported President Joe Biden, compared to 42% for Trump, according to a 2024 Pew Research Center study.

However, a majority of Catholic voters overall voted for Biden in the 2020 election, according to Gallup.

Margaret Thompson, associate professor of history and political science at Syracuse University, told McClatchy News although the religious group still tends to mirror the general public, it has changed a lot over the past two decades, growing smaller and more ethnically diverse.

She said what shocked her was that the gap among Catholics was so much bigger than the general public.

“One thing we do know is that the Latino vote broke for Trump to a much greater extent than it has for any Republican,” she said. “So the question is, does that add significantly to the Catholic margin?”

Cristina Traina, professor of Christian theology and ethics at Fordham University, told McClatchy News in a phone interview that experts used to be able to assume how the majority of Catholics would vote.

“You could pretty much assume that 80% to 90% of Catholics were going to vote a particular way because of their Catholic identity and the priorities that the Catholic church and they as Catholics had,” Traina said. “That’s no longer true. Catholics are across the spectrum.”

According to the exit polls, Trump outperformed earlier predictions of how the religious group would vote. A Pew Research Center study published two months before Election Day found Trump leading Harris by just five percentage points among the group.

“It is surprising to me, especially given that apparently 61% of Catholics would like abortion to be legal in many, if not all cases,” Traina said. “Clearly there’s not an abortion motivation to vote for Trump this year.”

What issues were most important to US Catholics?

Traina said she thinks several people who were on the fence about their vote broke for Trump because of greater confidence in him on issues such as immigration and the economy — mirroring top issues for voters nationally, according to an AP VoteCast survey.

“Catholics are pretty reflective of society at large and of their demographic groups,” Traina said.

The survey also found that Catholics picked Trump as a better fit to handle all issues except abortion and climate change.

How did other religious groups vote?

The NBC News exit poll found that 72% of Protestants — the largest of the religious groups — voted for Trump, compared to 26% for Harris.

However, a majority of Jewish voters, “nones” — people who identify as atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular” — and others all voted for Harris, according to the poll.