Pam Bondi Unleashes On Alleged 'Anti-Christian Bias' — And A Christian Leader Has Thoughts
On Tuesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi hosted an inaugural meeting of a task force consisting of other members of President Donald Trump's cabinet, to discuss its mission to eradicate alleged 'anti-Christian bias' within the federal government.
The task force is an initiative born out of a February executive order by Trump, in which the president accused former President Joe Biden's administration of fostering an 'anti-Christian weaponization of government.' Bondi quoted a part of Trump's order at the beginning of Tuesday's meeting, saying, 'The Biden administration engaged in an egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent anti-Christian offenses.'
Among the severalexamples of supposed anti-Christian bias Trump listed in his executive order, was the mention of federal cases in which anti-abortion activists had been convicted of violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act.
He referenced the federal indictment of 11 anti-abortion protesters who were indicted for violating federal law by physically blocking the entrance of a reproductive clinic outside of Nashville, Tennessee, in 2021. Six were later convicted on felony conspiracy charges — and some sentences included prison time. Trump pardoned them in January.
Trump also falsely suggested in his executive order that Biden declared 2024 Easter Sunday, which fell on March 31 last year, as Transgender Day of Visibility.
International Transgender Day of Visibility has been recognized on March 31 since it was created over a decade ago by trans activist, psychotherapist Rachel Crandall Crocker — and Easter's date changes every year. Biden first recognized Transgender Day of Visibility with a proclamation on a Wednesday in 2021.
The U.S. Department of Justice has additionally released a press release outlining a slew of examples that supposedly show anti-Christian bias, like past COVID-19 vaccine mandates for federal workers.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a member of the task force, shared allegations that federal employees have faced retaliation for 'opposing DEI/LGBT ideology that violated their religious conscience,' the release stated.
But Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president and CEO of Interfaith Alliance and an ordained Baptist minister, joins the chorus of those who have taken issue with the Trump administration's apparent messaging that Christianity, the largest faith group in the U.S., is under attack.
'If you're not acknowledging as a Christian that you've got a lot of privilege in this country, you're out of your mind,' he told HuffPost, emphasizing the privilege particularly associated with white Christians. (Raushenbush was formerly the executive editor for HuffPost's Religion section.)
Raushenbush said that while there may be 'real Christian persecution' that exists in other parts of the world, the Trump administration is speaking into an 'echo chamber' where some conservative and Christian media platforms are fueling concerns about 'Christian persecution' in the U.S.
'It's always about, 'They're coming for us,'' he said about the messaging on those platforms. He said efforts like the anti-Christian bias task force is the current administration's way to communicate that they're 'coming in and saving the day.'
Raushenbush said he believes, if anything, hostility toward Christians has come from the White House. He referenced Trump's attacks on The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde earlier this year, after she made a plea for him to have 'mercy' on people in the country who are fearful about the future, as well as Vice President JD Vance's clashes with Catholic bishops helping immigrants, among other examples.
Trump's executive order and task force is creating a 'distraction,' and an avenue, to fight 'political ideologies that the Trump administration doesn't agree with, and using religion to further those aims,' he said.
Raushenbugh also charged that much of what the Trump administration really means when they say 'anti-Christian bias,' is 'anti-Christian bias against the Christian nationalists who most fervently supported them.'
'These are largely white protestant groups that insist that America is a Christian nation, and that everyone else who's here is a secondary status,' he said.
Trump's executive order 'cites the First Amendment protection of religious liberty as its guiding principle, but in fact the order itself is a remarkable incursion against the separation of church and state,' said Brian Clites, Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan Professor in Catholic Studies II at Case Western University.
'In crafting the First Amendment's separation clause, our nation's founding fathers were most concerned that the government not intervene in disputes between and among Christians themselves,' he added.
Clites, whose expertise includes the separation of church and state, and the history of Christianity within the U.S., said it's 'with the humble recognition that there is no fixed point that represents 'Christianity' as a whole.'
He said he believes 'George Washington and Thomas Jefferson would cringe in horror' at Trump's executive order since 'it directly inserts the government into disputes between and among various Christian groups.'
'By calling out the protection of women's rights as 'anti-Christian,' the administration is uplifting the views of some Christians over and against the views of other Christians,' he said, later pointing out that research has shown that a majority of American Catholics think abortions should be legal.
'American Christians hold diverse views about reproductive justice and Transgender rights,' Clites said, adding that the administration's actions surrounding its task force is a 'clear violation of the separation of church and state,' rather than it being a protection of 'religious liberty.'
And speaking about the indictments of anti-abortion protesters that Trump mentioned in his executive order, Raushenbush emphasized that those convicted were breaking the law.
'If they were treated differently than anyone else that was breaking the law, then of course, it would be important to look into that. Because no one should be prosecuted more because they're operating out of Christian faith,' he said, before he added: 'But it's also not a get out jail free card.'
Raushenbush said the Trump administration has been vague about the criteria that constitutes 'anti-Christian bias,' and that their examples — like Biden's proclamation honoring International Transgender Day of Visibility — is them 'showing their hand.'
He said he believes the messaging communicates a resistance to treating LGBTQ people with 'dignity and equality.' But as 'a public employee of the government, you have to treat everybody the same.'
'Everyone has a right to their beliefs — and they have a right to have accommodations... [but] make it a welcoming space for everyone,' he later said. 'Don't privilege one rather narrow sect of Christianity over all the other people. That's against the Constitution.'
Trump Administration Urges Workers To Snitch On One Another For 'Anti-Christian Bias'
Judge Blocks Trump Push To End DEI Programs In Public Schools
Some U.S. Lawmakers Want More Christianity In Classrooms. Trump Could Embolden Their Plans.
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