ANTI-CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION February 14, 2025
On February 6, Donald Trump signed a head-scratching executive order about religion. From section 1: “It is the policy of the United States, and the purpose of this order, to protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the anti-Christian weaponization of government.”
The executive order further states that, “the previous Administration engaged in an egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses.”
Somehow, I’m under the impression that American Christians are enjoying their Constitutional rights. After Senate approval, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth publicly referred to “my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Following the Super Bowl, winning Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni thanked Jesus on TV. I wonder what many Americans’ reaction would have been had Eagles president Jeffrey Lurie or head of football operations Howie Roseman thanked the Lord God of Israel.
And goodness, the New York Times devoted last Saturday’s interview to Denzel Washington, who discussed being baptized and becoming a minister. For that matter, the Times publishes Christians like David French, a lifelong conservative Republican evangelical, and the Catholic conservative Ross Douthat.
Perhaps the key to Trump’s message was: “The Biden Department of Justice sought to squelch faith in the public square [italics mine] by bringing Federal criminal charges and obtaining in numerous cases multi-year prison sentences against nearly two dozen peaceful pro-life Christians for praying and demonstrating outside abortion facilities.”
Laws exist about “peacefully” demonstrating. The real point: Trump wants Christianity very visible in the public square. At his inaugural, the Rev. Franklin Graham, an Islamophobe, invoked not God in general but Jesus Christ. That left me and millions of other Americans on the sidelines. Yes, a rabbi participated. For obvious reasons, he called on God generically.
As to Christianity’s place in the public square, there’s a problem. All Americans should feel at home there. Equal time? Hardly. The White House Christmas tree is enormous and dwarfs the Chanukiah, offered as a sop to Jews. Somehow, Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic, left Christmas as a national holiday. The stock markets close for Good Friday but do business on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Also, we have a National Cathedral. A National Synagogue or National Mosque? Can’t find them.
The pubic square is not the place to preach and teach Christianity—or any religion—since not all the public is Christian. That task should fall on homes and churches. During the Biden administration, COVID closed churches, along with synagogues, mosques and temples. Persecution? No. Public health! As the pandemic waned, houses of worship, including my synagogue, reopened. Note: COVID killed more than one million Americans.
Americans who have truly experienced religious oppression have not been Christians. I know about social antisemitism, as well as more organized forms: Jews barred from medical and law schools, shunned by retail banks and law firms, denied homes in certain communities with purchases blocked by written covenants. I’ve heard antisemitic “jokes.”
Freedom of religion is a cherished American value. But the First Amendment also protects Americans from religion.
A comic-strip panel by Wiley Miller in last Tuesday’s San Francisco Chronicle said it well. A couple stands in front of a diner. A sign reads, “No talking religion and politics here.” The man comments, “I miss the time when these were separate things.”
Amen.
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Well done!
Thanks, David.
Great post, David, Discrimination against non-Christians is a waxing and waning feature of American life. What some people call discrimination against Christians, on the other hand, is really limitations on some Christians’ desire to apply their faith to public policy. In fact, the Supreme Court has already carved out protections for religious beliefs — Hobby Lobby and protections for pharmacists who don’t want to dispense contraceptives, for example — that give mostly Christians exemptions from laws that apply to everyone else, including other Christians. Far from discriminating against Christians, the law is increasingly being tilted toward Christians by expanding the protections of the “free exercise” clause to the detriment of the “establishment” clause.
One is hard-pressed to believe the courts would be as solicitous of a Jewish or Moslem fast-food worker or waiter who refused to serve pork products because they weren’t kosher or halal. “I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t serve you a bacon double cheeseburger because it violates my religion. I’m sure you and Justice Alito understand.”
True that, David.
Of course, I’m still pissed about the Inquisition and the expulsion from Spain, so maybe I’m a bit biased.
Alas, David, we have so many “newer” incidents of violence against antisemitism. Or, how about the “small” indignation of “restricted hotels” that into the 50s and even after wouldn’t accept Jewish guests? But there are millions of Trump supporters, who seek to make this a Christian nation, and the neutrality of the public square be damned.
“Freedom of religion is a cherished American value. The First Amendment protects Americans *from* religion.”
Quote of the year, David.
(Comments can’t do italics so *)
Thanks, Claudia. As a practicing Jew, I’m all in with that.
I grew up in eastern Pennsylvania in the 1950’s The Klan burned crosses on the hill. My parents were dissuaded from purchasing a home in a neighborhood where their non Jewish friends lived. The realtor said I wouldn’t get invited to any BD parties etc.
At Christmas there were taunts from other kids. Even my best friend at 7 rs old said there were things I couldn’t do because I was Jewish. Looks like we are heading back in time. 🙁
Imagine what those poor Christians,America’s majority, are going through, Sandy.