Trump celebrated the annual National Day of Prayer on May 1 by announcing an Executive Order to establish a presidential commission on religious liberty.
“[The Religious Liberty Commission] shall be the policy of the executive branch to vigorously enforce the historic and robust protections for religious liberty enshrined in Federal law,” read Trump’s presidential action. An accompanying White House fact sheet added that “the Commission will investigate and recommend policies to restore and safeguard religious liberty for all Americans.”
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Though the Executive Order itself does not explicitly mention Christianity, the fact sheet does, and both exist in the context of other actions by the President, including a Feb. 6 announcement of a “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias.” Of this measure, Trump said: “My Administration will not tolerate anti-Christian weaponization of government or unlawful conduct targeting Christians.” The President has also announced the establishment of a White House Faith Office.
Trump’s focus on religion is not unprecedented—George W. Bush created the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in 2001, which aimed to partner with faith-based organizations and community groups to address social needs. The initiative was subject to controversy, partly as some critics argued that the program could allow groups to use federal dollars to discriminate against members of what is now known as the LGBTQ+ community and others whose lifestyle choices may not be supported by certain religious groups
But Trump has gone a step further by appearing to openly question the separation of church and state since he entered the White House for his second term.
“Separation? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I’m not sure… We’re bringing religion back to our country. It’s a big deal,” Trump said during a Rose Garden event celebrating the National Day of Prayer.
Here is what to know about Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission—and what experts have to say about it.
What is the Religious Liberty Commission?
The Executive Order states that the Religious Liberty Commission will make a “comprehensive report” about threats to religious liberty and strategies to “increase awareness of and celebrate America’s peaceful religious pluralism.”
It lays out specific policies that are of interest for the report.
“In recent years, some Federal, State, and local policies have threatened America’s unique and beautiful tradition of religious liberty,” the Executive Order reads. “These policies attempt to infringe upon longstanding conscience protections, prevent parents from sending their children to religious schools, threaten loss of funding or denial of non-profit tax status for faith-based entities, and single out religious groups and institutions for exclusion from governmental programs.”
Per the White House, the Commission is due to terminate on July 4, 2026, which marks the 250th anniversary of American Independence, unless extended by Trump.
Melissa Deckman, a political scientist and CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), argues that Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission caters to White evangelicals—the group she says tends to be highly supportive of Trump and his policies
According to PRRI’s research, White evangelical Protestants are the only religious group where the majority (66%) believe discrimination against Christians has become as big a problem as discrimination against other groups. On the other hand, PRRI’s research also found that most Americans (78%) oppose the establishment of a federal task force that focuses specifically on anti-Christian bias.
Deckman argues that the establishment of the commission and task force is meant to cater to the Christian nationalist groups that she says see their “loss of dominance as persecution”—including the prominence of things like same-sex marriage and the growing popularity of more fluid conceptions of gender.
“Trump’s task force is really a reward to those folks who believe that there is anti-Christian discrimination in the United States that’s been pursued by the government” says Deckman, arguing that significant parts of the Religious Liberty Commission appear to be more “symbolic than substantive” in nature.
Meanwhile, Andrew Thompson, an assistant professor in political science at the University of Pennsylvania, says that while the Executive Order is “about embedding more Christian fundamentalism in the government,” it must be placed in context with Trump’s other actions during the first 100 days of his second term, which have included efforts to expand his executive authority in many directions, including but not limited to the gutting of congressionally-authorized government departments.
“Don’t miss the forest for the trees here,” Thompson says. “If the reins are off, as they have been elsewhere in his 100 days, they could be more able to fully enact some sort of policy and attempts at legislation, which [for example] could look like forcing public schools to include a moment for prayer. But a lot of this is just so speculative, because of the fact that we’ve never seen anything quite like what the Trump Administration is doing.”
Who is Dan Patrick, the chair of the Religious Liberty Commission?
Patrick is the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, serving under Gov. Greg Abbott. According to Mark Chancey, a professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University, Patrick’s history could be an indicating factor of the priorities of the Religious Liberty Commission.
Patrick built up a loyal following as a Texan conservative podcast host and since then has supported prominent bills in the state of Texas—including displaying the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, which passed the Texas Senate. Patrick has previously referred to the United States as “a Christian nation”
“We are a nation birthed by prayer, founded on the Judeo-Christian ethic, to ensure that people could worship as they wished without interference from government, but that is no longer the case. The last Administration attacked people of faith for four years,” Patrick said when he spoke in the Rose Garden on National Prayer Day.
Patrick went on to say that “nobody should get between God and those seeking him” and that “there has never been a President who has invoked the name of Jesus more than” Trump.
Who are the other members of the Religious Liberty Commission?
Aside from Patrick, the Religious Liberty Commission is served by former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson—who will be vice chair—television personality Dr. Phil McGraw, former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean Boller, CEO of conservative law group First Liberty Institute Kelly Shackelford, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, and Pastor Paula White, the senior advisor to the White House Faith Office. They will be joined by conservative author and radio host Eric Metaxas, Texas lawyer Allyson Ho, Pastor Franklin Graham, Bishop Robert Barron, author Ryan T. Anderson, and New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who recently took part in the papal conclave that elected the first American Pope.
While one of the Commission’s listed aims is to “safeguard religious liberty for all Americans,” Chancey expresses doubts on this, pointing to the membership board which includes a majority of evangelical Protestants and conservative Catholics, with the exception of a single Jewish Rabbi.
“Where are other religious traditions? Where are moderate and progressive voices of any type? Where are the Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, Latter Day Saints, all of these groups and others are excluded from this body,” Chancey says, expressing concern that some of the “expressed views” from members of the Commission could “promote an interpretation of religious liberty that rejects separation of church and state, embraces Christian nationalism as opposed to reproductive rights, and opposes LGBTQ+ equality.”
Chancey points to Metaxas, the conservative author and radio host. In a Feb. 21 post on X, Metaxas said: “Islam is a death cult.”
Meanwhile, Anderson is a former visiting fellow of the Heritage Foundation—the creator of Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint of which Trump has denied involvement with, though some argue that his early actions mirror the conservative agenda. Anderson has expressed an anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. His book titled When Harry Became Sally was temporarily removed from Amazon over concerns its content “could be construed as hate speech.”
Boller went viral during her 2009 Miss USA run, when she famously said that she believed marriage was between a man and a woman only.
Chancey is concerned as to where religious discrimination would stand amid the Religious Liberty Commission.
“You have at least three members of the board who are strongly connected to the movement of pro-Christian nationalism in American society and oppose separation of church and state as a framework for understanding religious liberty,” Chancey claims. “One Rabbi does not negate these facts… I am not at all confident in this Commission’s interest in preserving the religious liberty of all Americans.”
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