WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he wants to root out “anti-Christian bias” in the U.S., announcing that he was forming a task force led by Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the “targeting” of Christians.
Speaking at a pair of events in Washington surrounding the the National Prayer Breakfast, Trump said the task force would be directed to “immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government, including at the DOJ, which was absolutely terrible, the IRS, the FBI — terrible — and other agencies.”
Trump said Bondi would also work to “fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and to move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.”
Hours after the two events, Trump signed an executive order directing the new task force to identify unlawful policies, practices, or conduct by all executive departments and agencies, and recommend any additional presidential or legislative action.
Early in the day, the president joined the National Prayer Breakfast at the Capitol, a more than 70-year-old Washington tradition that brings together a bipartisan group of lawmakers for fellowship. He told lawmakers there that his relationship with religion had “changed” after a pair of failed assassination attempts last year and urged Americans to “bring God back" into their lives.
An hour after calling for “unity” on Capitol Hill, though, Trump struck a more partisan tone at the second event across town, announcing that, in addition to the task force, he was forming a commission on religious liberty. He criticized the Biden administration for “persecution” of believers for prosecuting pro-life advocates.
Faith & Freedom Coalition supports new task force concept
"I commend President Trump for announcing at the National Prayer Breakfast his intention to issue an executive order creating a task force headed by Attorney General Pam Bondi that will conduct a review of federal government departments and policies to completely eradicate all targeting or discrimination against Christians. In the aftermath of the Biden Justice Department targeting parents attending school board meetings for possible prosecution and the FBI targeting faithful Catholics as a possible domestic threat, it has never been more important to eradicate all forms of targeting, bias, and discrimination based on faith at the federal level. Faith & Freedom Coalition’s 3 million members and supporters strongly support President Trump in his defense of religious freedom and the rights of Christian Americans." - Ralph Reed
Trump’s new task force drew criticism from Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
“Rather than protecting religious beliefs, this task force will misuse religious freedom to justify bigotry, discrimination, and the subversion of our civil rights laws," said Rachel Laser, the group’s president and CEO.
At the Capitol, Trump said he believes people "can’t be happy without religion, without that belief. Let’s bring religion back. Let’s bring God back into our lives.”
Kelly Shackelford, head of First Liberty Institute, a conservative Christian legal organization praised the creation of the task force and religious liberty commission.
“All Americans should be free to exercise their faith without government intrusion in school, in the military, in the workplace, and in the public square. We are ready to stand with President Trump to ensure that the religious liberty of every American is safe and secure,” Shackelford said in a statement.
Trump also announced the creation of a White House faith office led by Paula White-Cain, a longtime pastor in the independent charismatic world. An early supporter of Trump’s 2016 presidency bid, she led Trump’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative in 2019, advising faith-based organizations on ways to partner with the federal government.
At Thursday’s prayer breakfast, she praised Trump as “the greatest champion” any president has been “of religion, of faith and of God.”
Rev. Samuel Rodriguez commends President Trump for creation of White House faith office
“The very freedoms we hold dear as Americans are derived from the Christian values on which this nation is built. By establishing the faith office, President Trump continues to safeguard America’s future against the anti-Christian bias that threatens our country. I commend his decisive action and celebrate this historic moment for our nation.
“I have known Rev. Paula White for many years and congratulate her on her appointment to oversee this office. Rev. White is a champion for the Christian faith and religious freedom, and I am confident she will leverage this office to advance God’s Kingdom—as she has done throughout her ministry.
“I look forward to working with Rev. White and the faith office to protect religious freedom, advance a culture of life, and do biblical justice for such a time as this.” - Rev. Samuel Rodriguez is the lead pastor of New Season, one of America's most influential megachurches, and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC),
In 2023, the National Prayer Breakfast split into two dueling events, the one on Capitol Hill largely attended by lawmakers and government officials and a larger private event for thousands at a hotel ballroom. The split occurred when lawmakers sought to distance themselves from the private religious group that for decades had overseen the bigger event, due to questions about its organization and how it was funded.
Trump, at both venues, reflected on having a bullet coming within a hair’s breadth of killing him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year, telling attendees, “It changed something in me, I feel."
“I feel even stronger," he continued. “I believed in God, but I feel, I feel much more strongly about it. Something happened.” Later at the prayer breakfast sponsored by a private group, he remarked, “It was God that saved me.”
He drew laughs at the Capitol event when he expressed gratitude that the episode “didn’t affect my hair.”
The Republican president, who's a nondenominational Christian, called religious liberty “part of the bedrock of American life” and called for protecting it with “absolute devotion.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to attend the prayer breakfast, in February 1953, and every president since has spoken at the gathering.
Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas are the honorary co-chairs of this year's prayer breakfast.
In 2023 and 2024, President Joe Biden, a Democrat, spoke at the Capitol Hill event, and his remarks were livestreamed to the other gathering.
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Smith reported from Pittsburgh. AP writers Holly Meyer in Nashville, Tennessee, and Zeke Miller and Tiffany Stanley in Washington contributed to this report.