Task Force to Justify Discrimination and Promote Christian Nationalism

Executive Order 14202: Task Force to Misuse Religious Freedom to Justify Discrimination and Promote Christian Nationalist Narratives

Official Title: Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias

Date Signed: February 6, 2025

Key Provisions:

• Establishes a task force to “end the anti-Christian weaponization of government” and "eradicate anti-Christian bias.”
• The Task Force will review all departments and agencies for anti-Christian bias and actions; call for the heads of those offices to end offending policies; and recommend actions for the President to rectify anti-Christian conduct and advance their version of religious liberty.
• The Task Force will submit one report after 120 days, another report after a year, and a final report upon the Task Force’s dissolution
• It will be funded by the DOJ, and it will terminate after two years unless extended by the President.
• The Order accuses the prior administration of engaging in an “egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses.” As examples, it notes that the prior administration brought charges against people who obstructed access to an abortion clinic, investigated domestic violence extremism among certain religious groups, pushed “Christians who do not conform to certain beliefs on sexual orientation and gender identity out of the foster-care system,” and highlighted Transgender Day of Visibility on the same weekend as Easter Sunday.

Threats to Religious Freedom:

• It is essential to protect the religious freedom of all Americans, including Christians. However, rather than protecting religious beliefs, this task force aims to weaponize a distorted version of religious freedom as a license to justify bigotry, discrimination, and civil rights violations.  
• Although this effort claims to address certain forms of stigma against Christians, in reality it aims to misuse a far-right interpretation of religious liberty to undermine other constitutional protections, dismantle civil rights laws, infringe on reproductive freedom, legitimize discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, undermine social services, and hurt our society’s most marginalized groups and vulnerable individuals, including many Christians.
• For instance, the Order presupposes that supporting LGBTQ+ equality is antithetical to religious freedom. We strongly reject this zero-sum approach to our nation’s civil rights and civil liberties, which is harmful to all Americans including Christians.
• The Task Force will likely aim to aid organizations looking to circumvent civil rights protections and anti-discrimination laws under the guise of religious freedom.
• If Trump really cared about defending religious freedom and ending religious persecution, he would also address the antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of anti-religious bigotry that affect so many Americans and permeate his inner circle.
• While promoting the idea that there is widespread anti-Christian bias in the United States, the Task Force also fails to engage with the atrocities of Christian persecution happening all around the world.