On May 1, 2025, President Donald Trump marked the National Day of Prayer by signing an executive order to establish a presidential commission on religious liberty. During a Rose Garden ceremony, Trump jokingly downplayed concerns about the separation of church and state, asserting the importance of religion in national life and emphasizing his administration’s dedication to supporting religious expression.
“They said separation of church and state, they told me. I said, let’s forget about that for one time. We said, really? Separation? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I’m not sure,” Trump said during the ceremony.
The new Religious Liberty Commission will be chaired by Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and includes members such as former HUD Secretary Ben Carson, New York Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Rev. Franklin Graham, and Dallas resident Dr. Phil McGraw. The commission is tasked with identifying threats to religious freedom, offering strategies to support peaceful religious pluralism, and suggesting ways to preserve religious protections. Commissioners will serve until July 4, 2026, though the president has the authority to extend their tenures.
In his remarks, Trump emphasized the importance of religion in American life, stating, “We’re bringing religion back to our country.” He also signed an executive order promoting free speech and religious liberty, to protect religious expression in public life and prevent government interference in religious practices.
This follows Trump’s previous faith-based executive orders, including the formation of a White House Faith Office and a task force to combat anti-Christian bias. Critics argue that these initiatives risk politicizing faith communities and undermining the principle of church-state separation. Supporters, however, commend the efforts as a revival of faith in governance and a necessary step to protect religious freedoms.
The Daily Wire reports:
During the Rose Garden ceremony, Trump thanked Paula White, White House senior advisor and leader of the White House Faith Office, for her dedication to religious freedom and emphasized the importance of protecting religious expression in American life.
Trump’s latest order builds on Trump’s previous executive action in February, establishing a “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias,” which aimed to address what Trump described as the Biden administration’s “egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses.”
Religious liberty concerns have escalated significantly in recent years, with numerous legal challenges arising across the country involving prayer in schools, religious symbols in public spaces, and faith-based organizations’ hiring practices.
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I know some people that will shout “separation of church and state” about this, but they need to know that this “separation” was ONLY to keep Government out of religion, not religion out of government.