‘We Saved Religion’: Trump Commission Proposes Historic Shift in Church-State Relations
In a move that could fundamentally reshape the relationship between faith and government in America, the Trump administration’s Religious Liberty Commission has released a sweeping 224-page report recommending that faith be given a greater role in public life—a departure from the long-established tradition of separation between church and state. “We saved religion, it was going down,” President Donald Trump declared at the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference on Friday, championing the findings of the commission he established last May. The report, which opens with Trump’s declaration that “for America to be a great nation, we must always be one nation under God,” includes a series of far-reaching recommendations: scrapping the law that prevents tax-exempt religious groups from engaging in political activity, granting healthcare workers the right to refuse vaccinations on religious grounds, and ensuring students have dedicated prayer time in schools. The commission also called for Army leaders to receive education on religious freedom and for soldiers to be taught “the importance of spiritual fitness in military readiness.”
The recommendations have ignited fierce debate, with critics charging that the commission reflects a “narrow, Christian nationalist worldview.” Rev. Paul Raushenbush, president of the Interfaith Alliance, characterized the report as a “wishlist of divisive, unpopular ideas far-right religious groups have pushed for years.” The report also includes testimonies from witnesses who raised concerns about antisemitism and suspected discrimination against Christians under Democrat-led governments. Proponents, however, see the recommendations as a necessary correction to what they view as the erosion of religious freedom in America.
As the administration moves to implement these proposals, the nation finds itself at a crossroads, grappling with a fundamental question: how to balance the cherished principle of religious liberty with the equally cherished principle of separation between church and state?
