Trump Religious Liberty Commission questions separation of church and state
The Trump Religious Liberty Commission sparked a debate over church and state during its final hearing in Washington, D.C.
- The Commission on Religious Freedom was established in 2025 and tasked with drafting a report on the history and current status of religious freedom in the country by July 4, 2026.
- The draft report included a number of recommendations across a range of demographics and sectors, reflecting concerns about parental rights and anti-Semitism, among others.
- The Interfaith Alliance, a long-time critic of the commission, accused the report of reflecting a “narrow Christian nationalist worldview”.
On June 26, the Department of Justice released the draft report of the Committee on Religious Freedom after a series of public hearings. During the hearing, commissioners and witnesses expressed concerns about anti-Semitism, religious freedom in public education, and what they saw as the weaponization of laws against Christians under the previous administration.
“Although their circumstances were different, their stories had a common theme: that in our national life, too often, religion is treated as a problem or nuisance to be controlled, restricted, or sidelined, rather than as a protected and valued contribution to public life,” the report said.
Critics have long accused the commission of being partisan and overlooking issues such as Islamophobia in favor of issues they say promote Christian nationalism.
When it was established in 2025, the commission was tasked with publishing a report on the history and current state of religious freedom in the country by July 4, 2026. The White House said the report will focus on “parental rights in religious education, school choice, protections of conscience, attacks on houses of worship, free speech and institutional autonomy for religious groups.”
In fact, the report includes recommendations for different demographics, sectors, and industries. These include establishing a hotline and online portal for public school teachers and school staff to report suspected violations of religious freedom, and creating a task force on parental rights between the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Other recommendations include:
- “Guaranteeing faith-based institutions an equal opportunity to participate equally in funding opportunities without requiring them to abandon their religious identity, and issuing guidance that religious discrimination in federally funded programs is unconstitutional.”
- “By promoting a robust and universal school choice system with funding that follows the child, we will ensure that the constitutionally guaranteed rights of religious freedom and parental rights are enjoyed by families of all socio-economic means.”
- “Directing the Department of the Army to update and disseminate religious freedom training for Army leaders and JAG officers, maintain the full applicability of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in the Military, rescind Obama-Biden-era restrictions on the practice and expression of religion, and increase the importance of mental health in military readiness.”
- “Protects religious health care workers from being forced to participate in proceedings that violate their religious beliefs by expanding the scope of the Church Amendment and providing a private right of action for violations.”
- “The Committee recommends that all federal civil rights offices and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission improve Title VI and VII enforcement against religious discrimination, including anti-Semitism, by establishing a series of expedited timelines for the investigation and prosecution of credible allegations of religious discrimination, including anti-Semitism, and tie future federal funds to promoting redress, as appropriate.”
The committee members also presented their report to President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on June 26.
The Interfaith Alliance, one of the multifaith groups that sued the Trump administration over the commission in February, said in a June 26 news release that the draft report was partisan and reflected “the narrow Christian nationalist worldview of an illegitimate commission made up of only ideologically aligned Christians and one Orthodox Jew.”
“In a betrayal of its original intent, the promise of religious freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment, the report and the commission behind it fail to express and uplift the importance of religious diversity and tolerance for all faiths in our country, not just a select few,” said the Rev. Paul Brandeis Rauschenbusch, president and CEO of the Interfaith Alliance.
The group, along with the Center for American Progress, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and the American Humanist Association, released its own report on June 15 titled “Religious Freedom for All: Celebrating America’s Founding Freedoms on 250 Years.” The report says it reflects “diverse voices in expressions of interfaith solidarity and democratic responsibility” and “offers a clear and compelling alternative to the Trump administration’s Religious Freedom Commission.”
The public can submit comments on the Religious Freedom Commission’s draft report until July 12.
The commission has been controversial throughout its existence.
President Trump established the commission through an executive order in May 2025 that stated, “To protect religious freedom from new threats, Americans must reaffirm our nation’s great experiment in religious freedom.”
Lt. Governor Dan Patrick of Texas was appointed chair of the committee, with Dr. Ben Carson serving as vice chair. Other members include the Rev. Franklin Graham and the Rev. Paula White, who heads the White House Office of Faith.
The committee held several hearings at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., touching on topics such as religious freedom and anti-Semitism in public education.
The commission has been controversial throughout its existence.
In June 2025, several attendees left the first hearing during remarks by then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. She vowed to “defend (religious freedom) from emerging threats” and asserted the Trump administration’s belief that the federal government “is complicit in defending these threats, which itself poses the greatest threat.”
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons of the Interfaith Alliance, who was among the group that walked out, told USA TODAY at the time that he found Bondi’s comments “very extreme.”
“It was disturbing to see the attorney general use his brief remarks to simply be unreasonable, but it was expected,” he said.
The Interfaith Alliance’s lawsuit alleged that the commission violated the Federal Advisory Commission Act. The law requires such groups to have a “fair balance in terms of viewpoints represented.”
Carrie Prejean Boller was removed from the committee after a February hearing on anti-Semitism. In an interview with USA TODAY, she claimed her firing was in retaliation for public statements inconsistent with the Trump administration’s position on Israel.
Prejean Boller said Patrick at one point told him, “Your job on this committee is to protect the president.”
The White House, Justice Department and Patrick’s office did not respond to USA TODAY’s requests for comment on the matter at the time.
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.
