A new report by a suggests replacing the idea of separating church and state with the idea of building bridges between them.
The assertion 鈥� challenging a longstanding concept in American law 鈥� comes amid a raft of recommendations in a draft report of the Religious Liberty Commission, released Friday afternoon.
The advisory body was created by President Donald Trump last year and filled almost entirely by . The 224-page draft report 鈥� part policy document, part philosophical argument 鈥� echoes members’ support for a stronger role for religion and religious expression in government, schools and the public square.
The report applauds recent expanding rights to religious expression in public settings, such as creating opt-outs for religious objections to school lessons.
The report recommends eliminating the 鈥� 鈥� that forbids political activities by tax-exempt religious groups 鈥� a longstanding goal of Trump. It calls for compensating military service members who were discharged for refusing COVID-19 vaccines.
It calls in general for allowing more religious expression in the public square, greater access to public money for faith-based agencies and broader exemptions for those claiming conscientious objections to policies ranging from vaccine mandates to pronoun usage to classroom lessons.
It recommends that federal agencies publish 鈥淜now Your Rights鈥� posters for various settings and establish hotlines to receive complaints about religious liberty violations.
The draft report also calls for the creation of new honors 鈥� a Presidential Medal of Religious Liberty and First Freedom Hero Awards. And it calls for exhibits and markers at historic sites paying tribute to the role of religion in American history.
It calls for combatting antisemitism through various legal tools. It also recommends requiring any public official who says an employee engaged in improper religious expression to provide a written explanation.
At a news conference in the Oval Office, commissioners said witnesses who appeared at their hearings had suffered 鈥減ersecution鈥� at work and elsewhere.
The draft report is now available for public comment over the next 15 days. It is sure to draw opposition.
Some other groups defend the separation of church and state
Critics have said the commission has failed adequately to address issues like anti-Muslim efforts in some states and that, while its hearings spotlighted left-wing antisemitism, it gave less attention to similar right-wing movements.
Some groups, including the progressive Interfaith Alliance, have a pending lawsuit saying the commission lacks ideological diversity as required of federal advisory panels.
The Rev. Paul Raushenbush, president of Interfaith Alliance, said the report represents 鈥渁 wishlist of divisive, unpopular ideas far-right religious groups have pushed for years,鈥� such as expanding vouchers for religious schools and repealing the Johnson amendment.
At the same time, Raushenbush said in a statement, the commission 鈥渃ouldn鈥檛 bring itself to acknowledge the growing threat of Islamophobia鈥� nor Trump鈥檚 own criticisms of Episcopal Bishop and other religious critics of 鈥渉is administration鈥檚 inhumane policies.鈥�
The report comes as conservative states such as Texas have worked to incorporate more religion into public spaces such as classrooms, including and .
Trump, speaking to supporters at a Faith & Freedom Coalition gathering in Washington on Friday, touted the newly released report.
鈥淲e saved religion, it was going down,鈥� he boasted.
Trump contended that the administration of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, had carried out a 鈥渞eign of persecution.鈥�
While the commission report downplays the separation of church and state, the commission didn’t go so far as to call it a 鈥渓ie,鈥� as the commission chairman, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, did in April.
But it largely took the stance that the idea is misapplied.
鈥淭o be clear, this does not involve or require advocating 鈥榯heocracy鈥� or even the total elimination of any separation between church and state,鈥� the report says. Rather, it calls for honoring a 鈥渢ension between the relevant clauses of the First Amendment鈥� that guarantee religious freedom but forbid any government-established church.
Still, Patrick pressed the issue at the news conference, saying the phrase separation of church and state was used to 鈥渂atter and hammer people of faith鈥� for decades.
Americans “cannot be attacked by that phrase any longer,鈥� Patrick said.
Supreme Court rulings on church/state issues have evolved
The phrase, 鈥渁 wall of separation between church and state鈥� does not appear in the Constitution, but it鈥檚 embodied in Supreme Court precedent. Thomas Jefferson used that expression in a letter to Baptists, supporting them in opposing official churches in U.S. states, a practice that soon ended.
Twentieth-century decisions by the high court invoked the 鈥渟eparation鈥� phrase to extend the First Amendment鈥檚 prohibition on federal church establishment to state and local governments, citing the 14th Amendment鈥檚 ban on states denying citizens鈥� rights.
That led to bans on official prayers and Ten Commandments displays in public schools. The Supreme Court in recent years has steered a different course, permitting such things as a public school coach’s on-field prayers and a religious opt-out for parents objecting to a lesson on transgender issues.
The draft report contends that even Jefferson didn鈥檛 believe in completely banishing religion from public life, but rather in keeping church and state in a kind of balance.
鈥淚n reality, the church and state strengthen and support one another,鈥� it says.
The report touts the value of religion to society in terms of providing humanitarian work, anchoring families and acting as 鈥渃onscience鈥� monitoring government.
鈥淚n many cases the law protects the religious expression of Americans, but government officials and employers often use fear tactics to silence individuals into believing that they don鈥檛 have the right to publicly express their faith,鈥� it argues.
It argues 鈥� citing one of its own members, Catholic media figure Bishop Robert Barron 鈥� that notions of strict church-state separation can be traced to a 鈥淕od is dead鈥� ideology that originated in Europe and saw traditional religion as an opponent to individual autonomy.
鈥淭his way of thinking made its way 鈥� into the American culture and courtroom,鈥� the report said.
Little recognition for non-religious Americans
The report, while touting the value of religion, appears to give little emphasis on the large population of Americans with . A key argument of many atheists and secular humanists is that one can be 鈥済ood without God鈥� 鈥� that religion doesn’t have a monopoly on virtue and can do harm as well as good.
The lawsuit challenging the commission alleges that commissioners have asserted that America is specifically a Judeo-Christian or Christian nation, showing a lack of ideological diversity.
The Republican administration is asking a federal court to dismiss the lawsuit.
This draft report comes two months after another entity created by Trump 鈥� the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias 鈥� issued its own . It claimed that Christians faced discrimination under the Biden administration. Progressive critics said that the report amounted to advocacy rather than an investigation.
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