3 Things to Know about the Anti-Christian Bias Task Force

I participated in a virtual press briefing to discuss the Trump administration’s Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias within the Federal Government report. The briefing was organized by Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice and featured  Christian leaders and leading experts in religious liberty. My fellow panelists were Melissa Rogers, Former Director, White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnership, Amanda Tyler, Executive Director, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, and Robert P. Jones, President and Founder, Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).

The press call was covered by the Associated Press, NPR, and Religion News Service.

During my opening remarks, I shared three observations about the report:

1. The hypocrisy is the point

The dizzying hypocrisy of this report is a feature of the Christian nationalist political project, not a bug. Christian nationalism has never actually been about following the way of Jesus. It thrives on using the Bible as a prop to be held up or a poster on a wall, not a way of following Jesus’s teachings. So when Bishop Budde preached for mercy at the inaugural prayer service, the president and his allies vilified her. When Pope Leo XIV said blessed are the peacemakers, the administration has waged one of the most vile attacks on an individual religious leader in American history. When Christianity looks like Jesus — mercy, peace, humility — this administration moves to discredit it. That tells you everything you need to know about this anti-Christian bias task force.

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2. Manufactured Controversies

Let's be honest about what the reportactually argues: that protecting access for women seeking out reproductive health care is anti-Christian. That protecting transgender people from cruelty is anti-Christian. That public health measures during a pandemic were anti-Christian. This so-called report on anti-Christian bias is an exercise in manufacturing a persecution complex with petty grievances. The lie that the Biden administration replaced Easter with Trans Day of Visibility is the most alarming lie, using the holiest day for Christians as a tool to attack a tiny, vulnerable minority. TDOV is always March 31, and footnote 671 even acknowledges that President Biden acknowledged it in previous years when it didn’t fall on Easter.   Meanwhile, actual Christian persecution takes place all around the world, and this administration has gutted the refugee program that allowed many Christians to flee persecution.

3. Interfaith Alliance Is Fighting Back‍

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We didn't just issue a statement. We took this administration to federal court. Interfaith Alliance and Democracy Forward sued to force the administration to comply with our FOIA request about this Task Force as part of our ongoing investigation. We’re also in court right now challenging the administration's Religious Liberty Commission, arguing that it was illegally constituted because it is unfairly balanced. A commission of all Conservative Christians and one Orthodox rabbi cannot fairly represent America’s religious diversity. When this task force was announced, we organized more than 25 Christian leaders representing millions of believers. We wrote on May 1 of last year, quote “We denounce the “Anti-Christian Bias Task Force” and call on the Trump administration to immediately stop its attacks on Christians and Christian organizations. We will not sit idly by while our faith and the name of Christ is used to justify the march towards authoritarianism.” Sadly, those attacks have only increased. The greatest threat to Christians exercising our religious liberty in the United States today is the Trump administration itself.

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Dr. Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons is the Vice President of Programs and Strategy at Interfaith Alliance

The views and beliefs expressed in this post and all Interfaith Alliance blogs are those held by the author of each respective piece. To learn more about the organizational views, policies, and positions of Interfaith Alliance on any issues, please contact [email protected].