Dan Patrick reiterates: 'No separation of church and state'

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stood in the Oval Office last Friday afternoon and told the American people once again there should be no such thing as separation of church and state in America.

Patrick, a Southern Baptist from Houston, chaired President Donald Trump’s controversial Religious Liberty Commission that was made up entirely of evangelical Christians and one Orthodox rabbi. Standing directly behind Trump, who was seated, Patrick declared: “No president in our history has stood more for God than this president. He has been unashamed to speak the word of Jesus. He’s been unashamed to speak up for all faiths.”

“No president in our history has stood more for God than this president.”

In reality, Trump is the least religious president in modern American history, having said he never has confessed any sins because he doesn’t need to. Although he has won the favor of evangelical Christians, his life story shows he has broken at least half the Ten Commandments and is not repentant for any of those actions. His policies also routinely target non-Christians — especially Muslims — for harsh treatment.

Patrick lauded Trump as leading the fight for religious liberty as “one of your greatest legacies” and said he was “the perfect president to be here in the 250th celebration” of the nation’s birth.

Earlier Friday, Trump spoke at the Faith and Freedom Coalition gathering at the Washington Hilton. There he said: “We saved religion, it was going down.” He accused the Biden administration of carrying out a “reign of persecution.”

Trump also encouraged that crowd to get out and vote in the midterms or else sacrifice all the “progress” he has made.

Patrick defines ‘religious liberty’

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick speaks as the lawmakers debate a bill on a redrawn U.S. congressional map during a special session in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Texas, Aug. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Patrick defined religious liberty as “that little voice inside of us that tells us right from wrong. It’s that voice that when we’re in trouble we can talk to in our quiet moments. It’s that voice when we feel unloved and alone that can comfort us through a higher power.”

Then he warned: “When governments can take away your religious liberty, they’re putting their hand in your heart and taking everything you believe in.” He compared such an atrocity to communism and told Trump, “We didn’t know about this communist movement a year ago.”

Patrick referenced the 103 witnesses the commission chose to hear from — all were handpicked to testify before the panel — and declared those testimonies showed “one constant theme: The overwhelming majority of our witnesses said they were attacked and punished and what was used against them was one phrase that’s not in the Constitution and that phrase is ‘separation of church and state.’”

He added: “The Left has used that one phrase that was one line out of one of hundreds of letters by Thomas Jefferson to batter and hammer people of faith for the last 70 to 80 years, and this report will speak very clearly that we want to be sure Americans understand they cannot be attacked by that phrase any longer.”

Earlier in June, at the commission’s final hearing, Patrick declared: “It is time to set the record straight: There is no such thing as ‘separation of church and state’ in the Constitution. For too long, the anti-God left has used this phrase to suppress people of religion in our country.”

The First Amendment to the Constitution — leading off the Bill of Rights — says Congress “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

In an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut, Jefferson interpreted the Constitutional language to mean there is a metaphorical “wall of separation between Church and State” — language that has persisted since then and that has been upheld in thousands of court rulings.

Patrick’s comments condemned

Those outside the evangelical MAGA camp immediately condemned Patrick’s rewriting of American history and the conclusion of the 224-page draft report.

Heather Delaney Reese

“This country was not founded as a Christian nation. It was founded by people fleeing religious persecution, people who understood, from lived experience, what happens when the state claims to speak for God,” said political commentator Heather Delaney Reese. “They wrote the First Amendment not to protect the government from religion, but to protect the people from a government that would use religion as a weapon. That protection has stood for 250 years. It has survived wars, assassinations, economic collapse and every test this republic has faced. It can survive Donald Trump, too. But only if we refuse to surrender it. And we never will.”

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president of Interfaith Alliance, also spoke out: “This draft report — buried on a Friday afternoon and released too late to be finalized by the White House’s own July 4 deadline — reflects the narrow, Christian nationalist worldview of the illegitimate commission, made up entirely of ideologically aligned Christians and one Orthodox Jew. A betrayal of the original intention of the promise of religious freedom guaranteed in the First Amendment, the report and the commission behind it fail to represent and uplift the importance of religious diversity and tolerance for all faiths in our country — not just a special, chosen few.”

He called the report “a wish list of divisive, unpopular ideas far-right religious groups have pushed for years like allowing tax-exempt houses of worship to engage in partisan politicking and gutting our public education system through expanded private school vouchers. This partisan report is unbefitting of marking a milestone of American democracy.”

The report — like the commission’s seven hearings — focuses almost exclusively on the grievances of evangelical Christians who have not been allowed to force their beliefs on others and who are still fighting COVID vaccine mandates.

Paul Raushenbush

“In 224 pages, the RLC couldn’t bring itself to acknowledge the growing threat of Islamophobia — perhaps because the president and his allies are waging a coordinated attack on Americans who are Muslim,” Raushenbush said. “Nor does the commission mention the president’s own attacks on the pope, Bishop Budde or other prominent religious leaders who have dared to speak out about his administration’s inhumane policies.”

For his part, Patrick kept up the persecution theme: “We want to be sure Americans understand that they cannot be attacked by that phrase (separation of church and state) any longer.”

Earlier in June, Rachel Laser of Americans United for Separation of Church and State took a preemptive strike at what she knew was coming in the commission’s report.

Rachel Laser

“If America is to survive another 250 years, we must recommit ourselves and our nation to that founding American ideal: The separation of church and state,” she said. “Christian nationalists are trying to push our country away from the basic American principle that religious freedom belongs to us all, so long as we don’t harm others, and toward an Orwellian version of religious freedom that belongs only to a select few, at the expense of everyone else.”

On Friday, Raushenbush added: “Our 250th anniversary is an occasion to celebrate our history of religious diversity and tolerance — yet for the Trump administration it’s just another opportunity to wield faith as a weapon to advance its own politicized agenda. While they continue to bully and target faith leaders and communities that don’t share their ideology, the majority of people of faith in our country will keep fighting for a diverse multi-faith democracy rooted in equal rights and respect for all Americans.”

12 recommendations

The commission’s draft report offers 12 recommendations:

“Instruct the Department of Justice to issue guidance clarifying the proper understanding of the Establishment Clause and separation of church and state.”
“The Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission shall issue ‘Know Your Rights’ posters for students, parents, public school teachers and administrators, religious leaders, religious institutions, health care workers and military service members.”
“Any public official who alleges a person under their supervision has improperly engaged in religious expression must provide a written explanation of the alleged violation to the person accused within 30 days of any action and explain that charge based upon a specific constitutional provision or provision of law.”
“Instruct the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, to create religious liberty violation reporting hotlines/online portals for students, parents, teachers, health care workers and others to obtain support in the face of religious liberty violations and promote public awareness of existing reporting channels.”
“Nominate and confirm federal judges with the courage to decide religious liberty cases on the merits where warranted, rather than engage in improper judicial avoidance.”
“Ask the Department of Justice to create a religious liberty task force to track and prioritize litigation protecting religious liberty.”
“Combat antisemitism through enforcement of civil rights laws, litigation of credible allegations of antisemitic discrimination and violence, and civic education.”
“Protect religious Americans from government-led litigation targeting their free exercise.”
“Repeal the Johnson Amendment.”
“Order the Department of War to streamline and improve the religious accommodation process.
“Continue efforts to restore the retirement or re-enlistment eligibility for service members who lost employment, health insurance, pensions and other benefits because of their religious beliefs about the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Honor the courage of religious liberty heroes through creating a Presidential Medal of Religious Liberty and First Freedom Hero Awards to recognize Americans who stand up for religious freedom and play an indispensable role in protecting citizens’ Constitutional rights.”