President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 6 to establish a task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias” in the federal government.
Trump announced the move during one of two National Prayer Breakfast events that he attended on Thursday. Attorney General Pam Bondi will chair the task force, which will include the heads of at least 15 federal entities, including the departments of State, Treasury, Defense, Labor, and Health and Human Services.
“The mission of this task force will be 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.
He said that the group will “work to fully prosecute” violence and vandalism against Christians and “move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.”
Under the Biden administration, the Justice Department came under fire for prosecuting peaceful pro-life protesters, including some senior citizens, under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Many of those defendants were sentenced to years in prison. Trump pardoned 23 of them within days of taking office.
The FBI also faced backlash over a leaked memo that depicted traditional Catholics as violent extremists and proposed spying on them in their churches. Under the Obama administration, the IRS’s aggressive scrutiny of conservative groups, including Christian organizations, sparked a major scandal.
The Task Force to End the War on Christians will include members of Trump’s Cabinet and relevant federal agencies, according to a White House fact sheet.
Members will review the practices, conduct, and policies of all federal departments and agencies to identify and eliminate any anti-Christian bias. The group will seek input from faith-based organizations and other affected parties to develop recommendations for further action.
“If we don’t have religious liberty, then we don’t have a free country, we probably don’t even have a country,” Trump said.
The president also announced the formation of a new White House Faith Office, led by Pastor Paula White, and a Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty.
“It’s going to be a very big deal,” Trump said of the commission, noting that its goal would be to “uphold this most fundamental right” of religious freedom.
“Unfortunately, in recent years, we’ve seen this sacred liberty threatened like never before in American history,” he said.
He pointed to the Justice Department’s prosecution of pro-life activist Paulette Harlow, 75, under the FACE Act and a conspiracy against rights statute for blocking the entrance to a Washington abortion clinic.
“Paulette Harlow was sentenced to two years in prison for peacefully praying outside of a clinic, charged under an obscure law that hadn’t been used in years, selectively weaponized against Christians by the previous administration,” Trump said.
“What happened to you must never, ever happen again in America,” Trump told Harlow.
