On Recent Political Threats to Religious Liberty

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The familiar words above are taken from the First Amendment to the US Constitution. In recent years, the “First Freedom” enshrined in this amendment—religious liberty for all—has increasingly become a flashpoint in our societal debates. As a general rule, conservatives believe that too many progressives are promoting a coercive secularism that undermines religious freedom, especially for Christians and others who demur from LGBTQ+ ascendancy for religious reasons. For their part, progressives believe that too many conservatives are really just bigots who wish to impose their offensively retrograde morality upon everyone else. The clash of worldviews is real in these debates, with both sides believing they have the moral high ground.

Though my language in the paragraph above is mostly descriptive, I don’t feign neutrality in these debates. Progressive elites are working aggressively and tirelessly to remake American society in their image. When conservatives respond defensively, they are accused of being angry culture warriors. We are all witnesses to a widespread gaslighting campaign where those who are committed to revelation and reason are accused of being on the “wrong side of history” while those who are committed to deconstruction and decadence are actually on the wrong side of reality.

In recent years, when conservatives have argued all this is happening, progressive elites and their allies have responded with a combination of ignoring the facts, redefining the past, cancelling dissenters, or pretending like they are being oppressed or victimized or traumatized. The real threat is white evangelicalism, Christian nationalism, conservative Roman Catholics, African-Americans and hispanic who reject identity politics, women who reject or even just raise questions about contemporary feminism, anyone who rejects revisionist views of sex, and—especially—anyone who doesn’t detest Donald Trump.

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Late last week, the Department of Justice’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias released a report that documented the various ways the Biden Administration actively opposed socially conservative Christians. Progressives will dismiss the report because it was produced in response to one of President Trump’s executive orders, which by definition makes it untrustworthy at best and evil at worst. Conservatives—including those who have never voted for Trump nor identified with the MAGA movement—should respond that (1) all this is breathtakingly obvious who anyone who has been paying attention, and (2) much of it was happening during the Obama Administration as well. Resonating with the report should have nothing to do with how one feels about Donald Trump. As Ben Shapiro has famously said, facts don’t care about your feelings.

Here are is a list of the report’s key findings, all of which were already known to social conservatives and some of which have been in the news recently. I am citing them directly from pages i-vi of the report.

The Biden DOJ pursued aggressive prosecutions against non-violent, prolife, Christian demonstrators under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act but responded less aggressively to violent attacks against pregnancy resource centers.

The Biden Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated, monitored, tracked, and scrutinized traditional Catholics who had engaged in no criminal misconduct.

The Biden Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigated churches because of what their pastors preached and Christian organizations because they applied biblical teachings to daily life.

The Biden Department of Education (ED) focused its enforcement actions against Christian universities, levying enormous fines that dwarfed the penalties for Larry Nassar’s and Jerry Sandusky’s sexual assaults.

The Biden Health and Human Services (HHS) and DOJ scaled back ongoing enforcement efforts to vindicate conscience rights, withdrawing a notice of violation against the University of Vermont Medical Center after it coerced a Christian nurse into participating in an abortion despite her religious objections.

The Biden Administration was one of the loudest supporters of a congressional proposal that would eliminate religious protections for Christians and other religions that hold traditional social values.

Even though Congress rejected a similar attempt, the Biden Administration tried to mandate the adoption of its views on sexual orientation and gender ideology, with limited religious exceptions.

Because it viewed traditional Christian values as harmful to children with gender dysphoria or same-sex attraction, the Biden HHS took multiple steps to prevent Christian families from living out their religious beliefs.

The Biden Administration took a dismissive approach to conscience rights and religious accommodation rights on the issue of abortion.

The Biden Administration sidelined Christians in favor of their preferred constituencies.

The Biden Administration ignored human rights crises that affected Christians.

The Biden Administration denied Christians and faith-based organizations equal access to government services, benefits, and programs.

Biden agencies’ religious accommodation process often functionally penalized Christians who sought to exercise their religious rights.

The Biden Administration regulated and suppressed religious speech that it did not like and curtailed Christians’ ability to jointly worship and study the Bible

All of these key findings are further explained in the report. Yes, parts of the report are fairly nakedly partisan in praising the Trump Administration as the only hope for American Christianity. Those biases, which should surprise no one, do not change the facts: powerful progressives have worked hard to curtail the influence of socially conservative Christians in American society, have undermined religious liberty at home, and have been ambivalent about advocating for religious liberty abroad. This isn’t some new revelation, but is simply documenting in a more formal way what has been happening for years.

Religious liberty for all is a constitutional guarantee. The role of the government is to protect that liberty, not threaten it as a casualty of the culture wars. Christians in particular should continue to champion our First Freedom and support organizations that are advocating for religious freedom and educating the next generation in the importance of the First Amendment.

Bobby Jamieson, Everything Is Never Enough: Ecclesiastes’ Surprising Path to Resilient Happiness (Waterbrook, 2025). I’ve heard a lot about this book, and have been wanting to read it for months. This week, I started working through it. I love the book of Ecclesiastes, and thus far I’ve really appreciated how Jamieson unfolds the major themes in the biblical text. It will be a required book for my Human Flourishing course this fall at North Greenville University.

Eddie LaRow, “The Church’s Gender Gap Problem,” First Things (April 30, 2026). Eddie is one of the most insightful thinkers I know who is writing about the relationship between faith and culture, especially among Generation Z. This article weighs in on the growing gender gap in the church, which is also a topic I’ve written on in the past. Eddie’s newsletter After Progress is also worth your time.

The Center for Faith and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary republished my recent newsletter, “Why I’ve Changed My Mind about Cultural Christianity,” as an article for their website. It is an honor to serve as a Fellow for the Center for Faith and Culture.