CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM
Trump unveils ‘anti-Christian bias’ task force
Attorney General made head of the force to end ‘persecution’ of majority religion of US
Last updated: February 06, 2025 |
AFP
From left: Televangelist Paula White and US President Donald Trump bow their heads in prayer as Rep. Ben Cline speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast sponsored by the The Fellowship Foundation at the Washington Hilton on February 06, 2025 in Washington, DC.AFP
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump announced Thursday the creation of a task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias” in government, intensifying a right-wing crackdown since returning to power.
The Republican billionaire said he was putting new Attorney General Pam Bondi at the head of the force to end “persecution” of the majority religion of the United States.
Trump said its mission would be to “immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination” in the Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service, the FBI and other government agencies.
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He also said it would prosecute “anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society.”
“We will protect Christians in our schools, in our military and our government, in our workplaces, hospitals and in our public squares,” Trump told a national prayer breakfast at a Washington hotel.
White House faith office
He also announced the creation of a “White House faith office” led by his spiritual adviser, the televangelist Paula White.
The announcements came amid a wider purge of the federal government at the start of Trump’s second term.
Trump has unveiled a slew of orders backing a conservative agenda, including several targeting diversity programmes and transgender people.
Despite a criminal conviction for hush money payments in a porn star scandal and sexual assault allegations, Trump has long made himself a champion of right-wing Christians.
Trump’s cabinet contains several members with links to Christian nationalists, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth.
And while Trump is not seen as particularly religious, he said he had become more so after surviving an assassination attempt at an election rally in June 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“It changed something in me, I feel even stronger. I believed in God, but I feel much more strongly about it,” Trump told a separate prayer breakfast at the US Capitol on Thursday.
“We have to bring religion back.”
Trump said in his inauguration speech on January 20, referring to the assassination attempt, that he had been “saved by God to Make America Great Again.”
Trump reveals executive order requiring Pam Bondi to prosecute ‘anti-Christian bias'
David Edwards
February 6, 2025
Newsmax/screen grab
President Donald Trump revealed on Thursday at the National Prayer Breakfast an executive order instructing Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek out and prosecute "anti-Christian bias."
"To confront such weaponization and religious persecution, today I'm signing an executive order to make our Attorney General, who's a great person — she's going to be a great Attorney General — Pam Bondi the head of a task force, brand new, to eradicate anti-Christian bias," Trump said. "About time, right? Anti-Christian bias. Yeah, never heard of that one before, right?"
"So many times you hear, but you don't hear the anti-Christian bias," he continued. "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."
Trump suggested the FBI and IRS were "terrible" for targeting Christians.
"In addition, 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," he added. "You've never had that before, but this is a very powerful document I'm signing."
"You get it now. First time you've had it. If we don't have religious liberty, then we don't have a free country. We probably don't even have a country."
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