A pair of progressive advocacy groups have demanded the records of the Trump administration’s task force that was created to combat alleged anti-Christian bias in the federal government.
Interfaith Alliance and Democracy Forward announced last Friday that they had filed a series of Freedom of Information Act requests related to the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias.
The Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president & CEO of the Interfaith Alliance Foundation, was quoted in the announcement as saying that he was “deeply concerned about government efforts to falsely suggest that American Christians face a ‘crisis of persecution,’ the manufacturing of a threat of Christian persecution in the United States.”
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“We fear that this Task Force will in fact persecute those, including Christians, who don’t align with a particular religious agenda — and circumvent anti-discrimination laws under the guise of protecting religious freedom,” stated Raushenbush.
“The Task Force convened by Attorney General Bondi has dangerous potential to enshrine preferential treatment for a narrow set of right-wing Christian nationalists. Nothing could be more harmful to true religious freedom in our democracy.”
According to the official FOIA request letters, the two groups are seeking task force records that include “meeting agendas, attendees lists, calendar entries, meeting minutes or summaries, or any other documentation that would reflect the attendees and content of such meetings.”
The groups also asked for “[a]ll solicitations for records of anti-Christian bias submitted” to various federal government agencies, as well as “subsequent resulting records of anti-Christian bias submitted” by said agencies.
They also wanted “electronic communications” such as emails, text messages, and other correspondence on “messaging platforms” like Skype and WhatsApp between United States Department of Justice officials and “external individuals,” including Michael Farris of Patrick Henry College, Scott Hicks of Liberty University, Phil Mendes, and anyone tied to the First Liberty Institute, among others.
In February, President Donald Trump issued an executive order titled “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias” that created a task force within the DOJ to “review the activities of all executive departments and agencies” in order to “identify any unlawful anti-Christian policies, practices, or conduct by an agency contrary to the purpose and policy of this order.”
The task force is slated to officially dissolve two years after the date that the order was issued, unless Trump decides to extend its existence.
Trump and others have argued that the task force is necessary due to various incidents that occurred during the Biden administration, such as the imprisonment of over 20 pro-life activists who were charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act when engaging in non-violent protests at abortion clinics.
Another example was a 2023 memo circulated within the Federal Bureau of Investigation that warned about connections between “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” and “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology.”
Also, many conservatives believed that the Biden administration failed to sufficiently respond to the wave of vandalism attacks on churches and pro-life groups in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“They were terrible to you, and they were terrible to people of religion, all religions,” Trump said at a National Prayer Breakfast speech in February.
“The task force will work to fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society, and to move Heaven and Earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.”
