{"id":3124,"date":"2026-07-02T04:39:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T04:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3124"},"modified":"2026-07-02T04:39:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T04:39:34","slug":"why-trumps-religious-liberty-commission-wants-to-rethink-separation-of-church-and-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3124","title":{"rendered":"Why Trump\u2019s Religious Liberty Commission wants to rethink \u2018separation of church and state\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

After hearing testimony from more than 100 witnesses over the past year, members of President Donald Trump\u2019s Religious Liberty Commission concluded that government officials and employers have often used \u201cfear tactics\u201d to convince religious Americans they do not have the right to publicly express their faith. <\/p>\n

Read more America\u2019s greatest piece of writing<\/a><\/p>\n

The commission includes well-known figures like Dr. Phil and neurosurgeon and former presidential candidate Ben Carson. It was established last year by Trump to \u201cenforce the historic and robust protections\u201d given to Americans. <\/p>\n

Dan Patrick, Lt. governor of Texas and chairman of the commission, told the president, when presenting their report, that the commonly known phrase \u201cseparation of church and state\u201d was used on nearly every witness to discourage or suppress their lawful religious expression in public life. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe separation of church and state is not in the Constitution,\u201d Patrick said. \u201cThat phrase should have no power over people of all faiths ever again in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Witness accounts included children bullied for their religious beliefs, a Navy SEAL losing his pension for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, a teacher threatened to be fired if she didn\u2019t remove a cross from her desk, or a student being targeted at one of the nation\u2019s most prestigious universities because they were Jewish. <\/p>\n

The draft report authored by the commission contained 12 recommendations to the president, ranging from establishing religious liberty violation reporting hotlines, to better guidance from the Department of Justice, to repealing the Johnson Amendment, the U.S. tax code that limits the political activity of tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, including churches. <\/p>\n

The recommendations are those of the commission, and are not necessarily embraced by religious organizations. <\/p>\n

Understanding church and state<\/h3>\n

The report\u2019s first recommendation is that the DOJ issue guidance on clarifying \u201cthe proper understanding of the Establishment Clause and separation of church and state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Establishment Clause is the first of the two religion clauses in the First Amendment. The second clause immediately following it is the Free Exercise Clause:<\/p>\n

\u201cCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. Constitution makes no mention of separating church and state. That wording comes from a letter Thomas Jefferson penned in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists, in which he wrote about \u201ca wall of separation between church and state.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one sentence in one letter out of hundreds of letters that Thomas Jefferson wrote,\u201d Patrick told Fox News\u2019 Charlie Hurt, \u201cand the people who use that, Charlie, they either don\u2019t know the Constitution … or they do know it, and they\u2019re pushing their own agenda to frighten people and quiet them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said the modern view of strict separation took hold in constitutional jurisprudence in the 1960s and \u201970s. <\/p>\n

\u201cAmericans inherently are drawn to God,\u201d he told the Deseret News. \u201cSo it\u2019s natural when we have major successes or community challenges, when we suffer tragedies, it\u2019s natural to turn to God, to turn to religion, to have those expressions in public settings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for many years,\u201d he said, \u201cthe court was basically sending the message that that was inappropriate and a violation of the Constitution if it ever took place on public land, or in public settings, or in public government meetings, and so forth.\u201d<\/p>\n

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U.S. Supreme Court rulings in the 20th century included rulings prohibiting state and federal governments from passing laws that aid all religions or one religion over another, and another banning school systems from facilitating official prayers \u2014 both rulings cited the Establishment Clause as being violated. <\/p>\n

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Baxter, who has litigated religious liberty cases for more than a decade, including at the nation\u2019s highest court, said the Supreme Court has gradually moved away from a broad \u201cwall of separation\u201d interpretation of the Establishment Clause, instead looking to the nation\u2019s history and the founders\u2019 understanding of what constitutes an establishment of religion. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the founders barred establishments, they were barring a specific thing: they were barring you from having an established church, from letting government officials dictate doctrine or select clergy, from taxing people to favor a particular church, and punishing people for not going to church,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, there are specific things that they understood to be an establishment, and the Supreme Court is starting to say, \u2018look, if it\u2019s not one of those themes, it\u2019s not a violation of the Constitution.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The court is increasingly recognizing that public religious displays are often historical or cultural acknowledgments, rather than unconstitutional government endorsements of religion, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can walk into pretty much any public building in America that\u2019s more than 50 years old, and there will often be religious symbols, religious statues,\u201d Baxter explained, \u201cand as long as no one is discriminated against because of the religion, that\u2019s not a problem.\u201d <\/p>\n

How religion affects a nation<\/h3>\n

During the commission\u2019s report presentation in the Oval Office last week, Patrick and Carson praised Trump for his actions on religious freedom. <\/p>\n

Patrick portrayed the issue as partisan, with threats generally coming from one side of the political spectrum.<\/p>\n

Baxter said Becket has faced litigation with virtually every president since the institute was founded, and that each administration has had pros and cons regarding religious freedom. <\/p>\n

He believes the issue remains heavily bipartisan and that the vast majority of Americans support religious liberties, even in circumstances that may be surprising. <\/p>\n

\u201cElected officials would benefit from understanding that, because really many, many of their constituents, no matter whether from the most left or the most right-leaning districts, have religious needs and need religious liberty protections,\u201d Baxter said. <\/p>\n

His concern is that some do see religion as something to be managed rather than supported \u2014 an example he brought up is when military leaders see their soldiers\u2019 religious accommodations as an inconvenience they have to allow. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey should be embracing the fact that they have soldiers, you know, airmen and women, sailors who are coming in and wanting to embrace their religion, whether they\u2019re Muslim, Sikh, Jewish, Christian, whatever it be, but those service members are way more likely to be 100% committed to their duty, to be hard working, to really be willing to stick through the hard things, because their religion is part of what inspires them to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cWhereas if you just kind of treat the religion like something that you have to modify, you have to accommodate, and you\u2019re not really doing everything that you need to help them exercise their religion, that\u2019s going to build resentment and make them feel torn between their loyalty to God and their loyalty to the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe religion clauses are referred to as our first freedoms, not just because they\u2019re listed first in the Bill of Rights, but because they are also the cornerstone or the bedrock of all of our other freedoms,\u201d Baxter said. \u201cBecause they help ensure that there are morally good people who are willing to uphold the laws of our country and do all those things that are necessary for democracy to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The panel says the phrase has discouraged lawful religious expression and no longer reflects the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the First Amendment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Trump\u2019s Religious Liberty Commission wants to rethink \u2018separation of church and state\u2019 - American Movers Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=3124\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Trump\u2019s Religious Liberty Commission wants to rethink \u2018separation of church and state\u2019 - 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