President Donald Trump’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias faces yet more litigation demanding the release of records related to the commission’s investigation of government agencies.
Democracy Forward and Interfaith Alliance filed a lawsuit Oct. 22 to obtain documents from the Small Business Administration and the departments of Justice, State and Veterans Affairs regarding those agencies’ cooperation with the task force.
The federal action follows the administration’s refusal to honor multiple Freedom of Information requests Democracy Forward and the alliance submitted in May.
Trump launched the commission with a Feb. 6 executive order directing U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to undertake investigations into “anti-Christian conduct” and “anti-Christian hostility” in all branches of government.
The administration’s unwillingness to disclose how it is investigating government agencies has sparked at least two other lawsuits.
The order accused the Biden administration of engaging “in an egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians” and of “ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses.”
“My administration will not tolerate anti-Christian weaponization of government or unlawful conduct targeting Christians,” Trump said in the order.
But the administration’s unwillingness to disclose how it is investigating government agencies has sparked at least two other lawsuits, both of them by Americans United for Separation of Church and State and both demanding the release of task force records.
Since filing its lawsuits, Americans United has received “heavily redacted, not very informative documents” from the Department of Veteran Affairs, the organization explained. “We are negotiating a schedule with the VA for them to produce additional records. The Department of State has not yet responded (to the FOIA request or in court). The current federal government shutdown may delay the government’s response as well.”
Rachel Laser
In August, Americans United President Rachel Laser said the litigation is an effort to force the government to disclose details about the task force’s actions.
“The Trump administration created the Anti-Christian Bias Task Force based on the false claim that there’s rampant Christian persecution within the federal government,” she said. “We’ve called their bluff and demanded that they prove it — show us the evidence of widespread anti-Christian discrimination.”
The Democracy Forward and Interfaith Alliance action was filed after the agencies in question failed to provide requested documents within the 120-day limit required by the Freedom of Information Act.
Skye Perryman
“Our nation was founded on the ability of people to believe as they choose and worship or not worship as they choose,” said Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward. “The Trump-Vance administration has been endangering these freedoms with a retributive agenda that relies on false narratives and inaccessible assertions.
“There is no basis for the administration’s assertions of ‘anti-Christian bias’ in the federal government and it appears this task force is an attempt to target free speech and those the administration disagrees with.”
Paul Raushenbush
The task force violates the Founders’ vision of a nation and government that does not have an official religion, said Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, a Baptist minister and president of Interfaith Alliance. “The federal government should uphold fundamental religious freedom and dignity for all Americans, regardless of their faiths and beliefs.”
Instead, the Trump administration is dismantling laws and programs designed to promote equality and diversity and to protect Americans from discrimination, he added. “The reality is this: Christians and other faith communities don’t need President Trump’s protection — they need protection from Trump’s attacks on religious freedom.”
His comments echoed those in a May letter signed by national faith leaders denouncing the task force and rejecting the notion that widespread Christian persecution exits in the U.S.
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