Trump's Religious Liberty Commission meets for the first time: What to know

USA Today

8 hours ago

First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
President Donald Trump has said during his second term "religion is coming back to America" and has launched a new Religious Liberty Commission in his administration.
The creation of the commission followed the establishment of the White House Faith Office in February, which replaced former President Joe Biden's White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
According to the White House, the commission will advise the faith office and will reflect a "diversity of faith traditions, professional backgrounds and viewpoints." But some groups and experts are skeptical, suggesting the commission could serve as a platform for a specific Christian agenda.
The commission will have its first meeting, which is open to the public, at the Museum of the Bible in Washington on Monday.
Here's what to know about the group ahead of the event:
What is the commission?
The commission is a group of up to 14 people appointed by Trump who are tasked with advising the government on religious liberty issues. The executive order says the members' terms, and the commission itself, will end on July 4, 2026 – the 250th anniversary of American independence – unless Trump extends it.
Members are not paid for their work, though they may receive travel expenses.
The commission also has three advisory boards composed of religious leaders, legal experts and lay leaders.
Who's involved and on the commission?
What will the commission do?
The commission's purpose is to 'safeguard and promote America's founding principle of religious freedom," according to the White House.
Trump's May 1 executive order that established the group said Americans 'need to be reacquainted with our nation's superb experiment in religious freedom in order to preserve it against emerging threats.'
More hearings will follow its initial June 16 meeting over the next year, the White House said, and the commission is tasked with publishing a report on the history and state of religious liberty in the nation by July 4, 2026.
That report will highlight 'parental rights in religious education, school choice, conscience protections, attacks on houses of worship, free speech for religious entities and institutional autonomy," according to a White House fact sheet.
What is the 'anti-Christian bias' they're referring to?
The fact sheet also accused the Biden administration of '(targeting) peaceful Christians while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses.'
When asked for further details about the claim, a White House spokesperson referenced the nearly two dozen anti-abortion activists whom Trump pardoned in January.
The group included individuals charged with conspiring to storm a reproductive health clinic in Washington in October 2020.
Among their charges were violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which prohibits individuals from interfering with another's access to reproductive health services 'by force, threat of force or physical obstruction.'
The Office of the Associate Attorney General said in a Jan. 24 letter that charging individuals under the act '(has) been the prototypical example of this weaponization.'
In a speech following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, which revoked a woman's constitutional right to an abortion and prompted nationwide protests, Biden said he '(calls) on everyone, no matter how deeply they care about this decision, to keep all protests peaceful.'
Why are some experts concerned?
The White House touted what it described as the diversity of the commission.
"President Trump welcomes, honors and celebrates people of all faiths in the White House,' the White House spokesperson said, pointing to the president's commemorations of the religious holidays of Ramadan, Easter and Passover.
The commission includes Protestants, Catholics and Jews, but no Muslims or members of other minority religious groups. There is Muslim representation on the advisory board of lay leaders.
Given that composition, some experts were skeptical that the commission's work would uphold religious liberty for all in practice.
'Saying, 'we have a Catholic and a Protestant and a Jew on the committee' does not mean that we have balanced viewpoints or a wide array of viewpoints if you've gone through and chosen people who share and reflect the administration's favored religious beliefs and favored political beliefs, and that's what we have here,' Duke University law professor Richard Katskee said.
Erwin Chemerinsky, a law professor and dean of Berkeley Law, noted the commission appears to be 'an extremely conservative group' primarily focused on 'using government to advance religion,' particularly a Trump-friendly branch of Christianity.
That, he said, is 'very troubling.'
Eugene Volokh, a professor of law emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, said time will tell if the commission lives up to its stated goal of protecting all religious groups and practices in the United States.
"I think the commission's job is to protect everybody and they may very well take quite seriously that job," he said. "We'll see."
BrieAnna Frank is a First Amendment Reporting Fellow at USA TODAY. Reach her at [e-mail].
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