In his first half-year in office — amid his tariff campaign, government-slashing moves and immigration crackdown — President Donald Trump has also repeatedly delivered for conservative Christians, who form the bedrock of his Republican support.
While he has made overtures to Jewish, Muslim and other religious groups, his Christian supporters have been among his most high-profile surrogates and appointees.
The Trump administration has green-lit political endorsements from the pulpit and encouraged religion in the federal workplace. Trump has established faith-focused entities with numerous influential Christian appointees. He’s energized supporters with assaults on cultural and academic targets long seen as liberal bastions. His administration and his Supreme Court appointees have expanded areas for religious exemptions and expression in the public square.
“We’re bringing back religion in our country,” Trump contended at a Rose Garden event on the National Day of Prayer in May.
His faith adviser, pastor Paula White-Cain, proclaimed that in his administration, faith “has been brought back to where it always belongs, and that is center.”
Critics say he’s eroding the separation of church and state.
“The ones celebrating this are the ones leaning toward this Christian nationalist bent, this ideology that Christians should have dominion over the United States government,” said the Rev. Shannon Fleck, executive director of Faithful America, a progressive Christian group.
“A president with a true Christian agenda would be most concerned with uplifting those in our country who have been cast aside,” she said. “The most vulnerable among us are not billionaires. Those most vulnerable among us are not these manipulators of Christianity that are seeking nothing but power.”
Here are 10 ways Trump has repaid his supporters, particularly conservative evangelicals and Catholics:
Crackdowns on transgender identity and treatment
Trump has cracked down on transgender identity and medical treatment, long targets of religious conservatives.
He signed an executive order on his first day in office recognizing only male and female as biologically determined sexes. Another order aimed to eliminate federal support for gender-affirming care for young people, which several medical institutions have discontinued.
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Still another order aimed to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports. The University of Pennsylvania, under a federal civil rights investigation, modified school records previously set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and said it would apologize to female athletes “disadvantaged” by her participation.
Pastors, politics and the IRS
The IRS declared on July 7 that pastors can endorse political candidates from the pulpit without risking their churches’ tax-exempt status. The move effectively calls for a carve-out for religious organizations from the IRS rule known as the Johnson Amendment, enacted in 1954 and named after then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson.
That rule said churches and other nonprofits could lose their tax-exempt status if they participate in any political campaign for or against any candidate. The rule was rarely enforced, though some conservative religious leaders spent years vocally claiming it was violating their freedom of religion and speech. Trump had vowed in 2017 to “destroy” the Johnson Amendment.
Targeting Planned Parenthood
Trump signed budget legislation aimed at cutting Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s biggest abortion provider and a longtime target of Christian conservative groups.
U.S. law already bars federal funding for abortion, but the latest cuts target other services offered by the organization, such as contraception and cancer screenings.
Trump in January pardoned anti-abortion activists who had been convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances.
Evangelist-led faith office
Trump created a White House faith office led by White-Cain, a longtime pastor and evangelist in the independent charismatic world. While past presidents have had similar White House outreach to faith-based communities, this appointment puts one of Trump’s earliest high-profile Christian supporters in a strategic position. White-Cain held a similar post in the first Trump administration.
Task force on anti-Christian bias
Trump created a Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, chaired by Attorney General Pam Bondi and composed of high-ranking government representatives. Its two-year mandate is to “identify any unlawful anti-Christian” actions allegedly taken by the previous administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and to recommend changes. The order cites grievances voiced by conservative Christian leaders in recent years, though skeptics questioned how those grievances were portrayed and whether the nation’s most dominant religious demographic needed special protections.
Religious Liberty Commission
Trump created a Religious Liberty Commission. It includes several conservative Christian clerics and commentators, some of whom have supported Trump politically. Its chair, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, supports prayer and Ten Commandments postings in public schools.
The commission’s announcement came at a White House prayer event at which Trump said of the concept of church-state separation, “Let’s forget about that for one time.”
Evangelical ambassador to Israel
Trump appointed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister and prominent religious conservative, as ambassador to Israel.
Huckabee reflects the unwavering support for Israel among many evangelicals, who see it as favored by God and largely dismiss criticisms of Israel’s war with Hamas and aid restrictions in Gaza.
Huckabee was confirmed by the Senate despite concerns he previously supported Israel’s right to annex the occupied West Bank. He pledged to “carry out the president’s priorities, not mine.”
Religion in the federal workplace
The Office of Personnel Management said in a July 28 memo that federal employees may promote and talk about their religion with fellow employees on the job, so long as it’s not “harassing in nature.”
They can display religious items at work and encourage co-workers “to participate in religious expressions of faith, such as prayer,” the memo said. Office Director Scott Kupor said federal workers “should never have to choose between their faith and their career.”
Critics said this erodes church-state separation, potentially creating a hostile workplace environment. Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said “this memo encourages federal workers to abuse the power of their positions by imposing their religious beliefs on others.”
Supreme Court impact
Trump hasn’t made Supreme Court appointments yet this term. But his three first-term picks — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — continue to deliver for the Christian conservatives and their allies from other faiths who cheered their appointments.
The high court ruled in June that Maryland parents with religious objections can pull their children from public school lessons using LGBTQ+ storybooks; that Tennessee can ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors; and that states can block Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid money.
All three were decided by the same 6-3 margin, with Trump’s appointees in the court’s conservative supermajority.
Fighting a culture war
Trump launched a wide-ranging culture war against universities, museums, public broadcasters and other institutions.
These targets have long been accused of liberal bias by religious and other conservatives, even though specific grievances and circumstances varied.
Trump has cut funding, forced out officials or otherwise demanded changes at the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He signed a congressional action slashing funding for public broadcasting.
The Trump administration also cut research funding at several elite U.S. colleges, some of which have offered financial payments and other concessions to his political agenda in an effort to regain funding.
It has also worked to suppress diversity, equity and inclusion programs at government agencies and private corporations.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
