President Trump announces protection of prayer in public schools
President Trump announced new upcoming guidelines to protect prayer in public schools.
- The Interfaith Alliance and Hindu Human Rights Group were among the groups that accused the commission of violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which requires such groups to have a balanced perspective.
- The committee includes Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, but no Muslims or members of other religious minorities. There is also a Muslim representative on the advisory board of lay leaders.
A group of multifaith organizations sued President Donald Trump’s administration on February 9, alleging an illegal lack of religious and ideological diversity in the Justice Department’s Religious Freedom Commission.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, names the Interfaith Alliance and its president and CEO, the Rev. Paul Rauschenbusch, Muslims for Progressive Values, Sikh America Law Defense and Educational Fund, and Hindus for Human Rights as plaintiffs.
The groups are asking the court to find the committee in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The law requires such groups to have a “fair balance in terms of viewpoints represented.”
The Religious Freedom Commission includes Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, but not Muslims or members of other minority religious groups. According to the complaint, member states “broadly support the view that the United States is a ‘Judeo-Christian’ nation and that there are limited, if any, limits on instilling religious values in government.”
“This does not reflect America’s religious diversity and does not seem interested in truly defending the religious freedom of all Americans,” Rauschenbusch told USA TODAY.
The lawsuit was filed on the same day the committee convened for a hearing on anti-Semitism and religious freedom in the private sector.
USA TODAY has reached out to the White House and the Department of Justice for comment.
According to the complaint, the committee does not reflect “the full diversity of American religious life.”
The plaintiffs are represented by Democracy Forward and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, which the committee says is part of an “administration-wide effort to advance Christian nationalism.”
In addition to Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and the commission’s director, Mary Margaret Bush, the Justice Department and the Commission on Religious Liberty itself are named as defendants.
The complaint said the commission is incapable of adequately addressing topics related to religious freedom, such as attacks on minority places of worship, because it “excludes perspectives that highlight the full diversity of American religious life.”
The lawsuit also said it “lacks the perspective of religious minorities, such as Sikhs, Muslims, and Hindus, who face the most egregious discrimination.”
It asked the court to find that the committee was “not properly constituted” and its report and recommendations “do not reflect the views of a lawfully constituted advisory committee.”
A committee whose mission is to provide advice to the government and prepare reports.
The commission, a group of up to 14 people appointed by President Trump, is tasked with advising the federal government on religious freedom issues and issuing reports on the history and current state of religious freedom in the country. According to President Trump’s executive order establishing the organization, the terms of its members and the commission itself will end on July 4, the 250th anniversary of American independence, unless extended by President Trump.
The creation of the commission follows the creation of the White House Office of Faith and Neighborhood Partnerships in February 2025, replacing former President Joe Biden’s White House Office of Faith and Neighborhood Partnerships.
The White House said the commission is intended to reflect “a diversity of faith traditions, professional backgrounds, and perspectives.”
But the complaint said that his membership on the commission “inevites a one-sided and ahistorical analysis” of the country’s religious freedom and diversity.
Plaintiffs ‘demand accountability’
The lawsuit is not the first time the commission has been accused of not adhering to its stated values.
During Bondi’s remarks during the committee’s first hearing in June, some people, including Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons of the Interfaith Alliance, walked out. Guthrie called Bondi’s statements “very extreme,” including his belief that the federal government was “complicit in protecting” threats to religious freedom under past administrations, and said there was “very little diversity of thought” on the committee.
Other hearings covered topics such as prayer in public schools and Charlie Kirk, who was described as a Christian martyr in his memorial speech after his assassination in September.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who chairs the commission, said at its Sept. 8, 2025, meeting that the commission “represents all faiths because that’s what our founders intended.”
The committee has Muslim representation on its advisory board of lay leaders through Samira Mansi, who advocated for the right of religious parents in Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools to prevent students from reading books with LGBTQ+ themes. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parents in June.
Rauschenbusch said he and the other plaintiffs “want transparency. We want accountability.” He called the separation of church and state “the wisest and most beautiful thing that America did at its founding.”
“I think that’s what we need to do to continue moving forward. I want to make sure people don’t betray that important value,” he said.
Breanna Frank is USA TODAY’s First Amendment reporter. please contact her bjfrank@usatoday.com.
USA TODAY’s coverage of First Amendment issues is funded by the Freedom Forum in collaboration with our journalism funding partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
