On February 6, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order addressing so-called “anti-Christian bias” in the United States. The Anti-Christian Bias Task Force, created by the executive order, held its first meeting on April 22, 2025. The task force is chaired by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
What federal agencies are impacted?
The Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice (including the FBI), the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Small Business Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are all specifically named in the executive order.
What have agencies done so far?
As of April 24, 2025, there has been initial reporting about the implementation of the executive order at the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. At the first meeting of the task force on April 22, 2025, there were reports given by the various members of the task force.
According to POLITICO: “The department, according to a copy of an internal cable obtained by POLITICO, will work with an administration-wide task force to collect information ‘involving anti-religious bias during the last presidential administration’ and will collect examples of anti-Christian bias through anonymous employee report forms.”
According to the Associated Press: “VA Secretary Doug Collins this week sent a rare department-wide email requesting employees to report any allegations of ‘anti-Christian discrimination’ among their colleagues. The email, which was reviewed by The Associated Press, asks for ‘names, dates, and locations’ of any alleged incidents to be reported to an internal email address.”
If you have additional information about how the executive order is being implemented across federal agencies, email us at info@interfaithalliance.org.
Why is the Trump administration doing this?
Trump announced his intention to create the task force during a campaign speech on December 19, 2023. Here’s how he justified it: “They are going after Christians in America. Who can believe all this stuff? It’s not believable, is it? But it is fact. It’s just like so many of the other things. When I stand up and I say that we will stop and I’ve said it, we will stop men from participating in women’s sports. I mean the whole thing. No, but things that you say that you can’t believe, you’re up here and saying it.”
Is there evidence of widespread anti-Chrsitian bias in the United States?
No, there is not. The majority of Americans are Christians, and hate crimes experts have no documented widespread incidents of Americans facing discrimination because of their Christian faith. This is in contrast to antisemitism and Islamophobia, which are persistent threats to religious freedom in the United States. Sadly, what the Trump administration means by “anti-Christian bias” is actually LGBTQ nondiscrimination, vaccine requirements, and reproductive health care protections. However, most Christians in the United States actually support LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws, do not want to outlaw abortion, and support vaccine requirements.
What has Donald Trump done for Christians persecuted by authoritarian governments around the world?
President Trump has issued an indefinite refugee ban, which shuts the doors of the United States to Christians fleeing persecution around the world. The majority of the United States’s refugee resettlement agencies are Christian agencies—including Church World Service, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, Bethany Christian Services, and World Relief. According to the evangelical group World Relief, “In 2024, most of the 100,034 refugees resettled to the U.S. were Christians, and most of those Christians — 29,493 — came from the 50 countries where persecuted church watchdog Open Doors US says that Christians face the most severe persecution.”
How has the Trump administration attacked Christians in the United States?
The early days of the second Trump administration have featured a surprising number of direct attacks on Christian leaders by the administration itself. President Trump attacked Episcopal bishop Mariann Budde after she pleaded for mercy for immigrants and LGBTQ people during the inaugural prayer service. Vice President J.D. Vance suggested the U.S. Catholic bishops were out for financial gain rather than serving immigrants. And DOGE leader Elon Musk attacked Lutheran Family Services, amplifying a far-right conspiracy theorist who accused them of money laundering, and said DOGE would be “rapidly shutting down these illegal payments.”
How is the Trump administration helping churches and other houses of worship?
The biggest shift in policies related to churches and other houses of worship by the Trump administration is allowing ICE to make arrests inside them without prior authorization. This desecration of houses of worship has led a group of Baptists, Quakers, and Sikhs to sue the administration–and win a temporary restraining order–for violating their religious freedom.
This is a live document that will be updated as events unfold.
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