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Religious Liberty commission Launched

Critics worry boards serve Trump brand of Christian agenda

By: BrieAnna J. Frank
USA Today

..... President Donald Trump has said during his second term "religion is coming back to America" and has launched a new Religious Liberty Commission in his administration.
..... The creation of the commission followed the establishment in February [2025] of the White House Faith Office, which replaced former President Joe Biden's White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood partnerships.
..... According to the White House, the commission will advise the faith office and will reflect a "diversity of faith traditions, professional backgrounds and viewpoints." But some groups and experts are skeptical, suggesting the commission could serve as a platform for a specific Christian agenda.

What is the commission?

..... The commission is a group of up to 14 people appointed by Trump who are tasked with advising the government on religious liberty issues. The executive order says the members' terms, and the commission itself, will end July 4, 2026 - the 250th anniversary of American independence - unless Trump extends it. Members are not paid for their work, through they may receive travel expenses. The commission also has three advisory boards composed of religious leaders, legal experts and lay leaders.

Who's involved, on commission?

..... Teas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who offers up to $1 million to individuals who could provide proof of Trump's baseless claims of widespread election fraud in 2020, and Dr. Ben Carson, who ran for president in 2016 and later served as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in Trump's first administration, were appointed to serve as the commission's chair and vice chair,, respectively.
..... Other Trump allies are on the commission, including the Rev. Franklin Graham a pastor Paula White, who leads the White House Faith Office. The commission also includes the archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, whom Trump recommended for the papacy after Pope Francis' death, and Carrie Prejean Boller, who stirred controversy by saying "marriage should be between a man and a woman" during the Miss USA 2009 competition.
..... The advisory board includes Christian and Jewish Catholicism, evangelicalism, Greek Orthodox Christianity and orthodox Judaism. They include:
* Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elpidophoris, who attended Trump's inauguration and later offered the president a holy cross as a sing of "divine guidance," according to the Catholic News Agency,
* Paster Jack Graham, who leads Prestonwood Baptist Church in the Dallas area and previously served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Graham has referred to trump as a "warrior for the word of God."
* Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition of Jewish Values, who has criticized "wokeism" and said that Judaisms "teaches the principles that made America great." in an April [2025] interview with the Orthodox Jewish media outlet VIN News.
..... Legal experts include Jason Bedrick, a research fellow in the Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation, which crafted the policy playbook known as project 2025; Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law, Houston; and Kristen Waggoner, president, CEO and general counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom.
..... Lay leaders include Alveda King, an anti-abortion advocate and niece of the later Martin Luther King Jr.; and "Heaven Meets Earth" podcast co-host and Christina Broadcasting Network reporter Abigail Roberson Allen. Also on the board is activist Sameerah Munshi, who has supported Maryland parents seeking a right to opt their children out of reading books with LGBTQ+ characters in public schools in a case before the Supreme Court.

What will the commission do?

..... The commission's purpose is to "safeguard and promote America's founding principle of religious freedom,' according to the White House.
..... Trump's May 1 [2025] executive order that established the group said Americans "need to be reacquainted with our nation's superb experiment in religious freedom in order to preserve it against emerging threats."
..... More hearings will follow its initial June 16 [2025] meeting over the next year, [2025-2026] the White House said, and the commission is tasked with publishing a report on the history and state of religious liberty in the nation by July 4, 2026.
..... That report will highlight "parental rights in religious education, school choice, conscience protections, attacks on houses of worship, free speech for religious entities and institutional autonomy," according to a White House face sheet.
..... The fact sheet also accused the Biden administration of "(targeting) peaceful Christians while ignoring violent, anti-christian offenses."
..... When asked for further details about the claim, a White House spokespersons refereed nearly two dozen anti-abortion activists whom Trump pardoned in January. [2025] the group included individuals charged with conspiring to storm a reproductive health clinic in Washington in October 2020.

Why are some experts concerned?

..... The commission includes Protestants, Catholics and Jews, but no Muslims or members of other minority religious groups. There is Muslim representation on the advisory of lay leaders.
..... Given that composition, some experts were skeptical that the commission's work would uphold religious liberty for all in practice.
..... Erwin Chemerinsky, a law professor and dean of Berkley Law, noted the commission appears to be "an extremely conservative group" primarily focused on "using government to advance religion" particularly a Trump-friendly branch of Christianity.
..... That, he said is "very troubling."

..... USA Today's coverager of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide edict oral input.

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