(RNS) — During his campaign to return to the White House, Donald Trump promised to return Christians to power and prominence in American life and to root out any anti-Christian policies in the federal government.
Not long after taking office, Trump ordered cabinet members to form a task force to eliminate anti-Christian bias in their departments.
“My Administration will not tolerate anti-Christian weaponization of government or unlawful conduct targeting Christians,” Trump wrote in an executive order dated Feb. 6.
A report, dated June 6 but made public this week, from the task force now alleges that there was a “consistent and systematic pattern of discrimination against Christians during the Biden Administration.” In support of that claim, the report cites fines issued against two major Christian universities, arrests of abortion clinic protesters and mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations and testing in government agencies as proof of bias against Christians.
The report also claims that investigating churches for violating the so-called Johnson Amendment, a rule that bars nonprofits from taking sides in elections, is a sign of bias and argued that some agencies created a hostile work environment toward Christians.
Many of the incidents in the report were previously reported by conservative media or referred to by conservative activist groups during the Biden administration, including an FBI memo that warned of the alleged dangers posed by “radical traditionalist” Catholics.
The report also listed a series of disputes between private companies and workers over religion as signs of bias. Those included a pair of flight attendants fired by Alaska Airlines allegedly over their disagreement with the company over support of LGBTQ+ rights. The flight attendants are currently sui …