Trump Signs Order to Fight Anti-Christian Bias

President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at eradicating “anti-Christian bias” in the federal government by having agencies review policies and practices that he says have tried to squelch religious activities and activism.Mr.Trump, who announced the order at the National Prayer Breakfast, appointed his new attorney general, Pam Bondi, to lead a task force at the Justice Department to spearhead the effort.

Mr.Trump said the task force would “fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society” and “move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.”“You’ve never had that before, but this is a very powerful document I’m signing,” he said.

“You got 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.”The executive order is meant to reverse what it calls an “egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses” under President Joseph R.Biden Jr.

It cited the convictions of anti-abortion demonstrators for blocking access to abortion clinics.Critics said the order and the task force turned the nation’s traditional understanding of religious freedom, established by the First Amendment and reinforced by decades of laws and Supreme Court decisions, on its head by singling out a particular religion.“Rather than protecting religious beliefs, this task force will misuse religious freedom to justify bigotry, discrimination and the subversion of our civil rights laws,” Rachel Laser, the president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in a statement.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of ...