Following through on another campaign promise, President Donald Trump is forming a task force to combat anti-Christian bias in the federal government. Trump announced the task force’s creation at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday. “From the earliest days of our republic, faith in God has always been the ultimate source of the strength that beats in the hearts of our nation,” the president declared. Noting that “America is and will always be ‘one nation under God,’” he continued, “We have to bring religion back. We have to bring it back much stronger. It’s one of the biggest problems that we’ve had over the last fairly long period of time. We have to bring it back.”

“Today we must protect the fundamental freedom with absolute devotion. We must stand strong, just like generations of Americans have done on the battlefields all around the world,” Trump continued. To that end, he declared that he would order the forming of a federal task force to “eradicate anti-Christian bias” and “all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government.” The task force will be headed by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“While I’m in the White House, we will protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government, in our workplaces, hospitals, and in our public squares,” the president declared. He explained that the task force will “fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society and … move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.”

Trump followed his comments by signing an executive order formally establishing the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias. “My Administration will not tolerate anti-Christian weaponization of government or unlawful conduct targeting Christians. The law protects the freedom of Americans and groups of Americans to practice their faith in peace, and my Administration will enforce the law and protect these freedoms,” the executive order states. It continues, “My Administration will ensure that any unlawful and improper conduct, policies, or practices that target Christians are identified, terminated, and rectified.”

As announced, the task force will be chaired by Bondi, but other members will include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, as well as the heads of other federal agencies and departments. The task force will be responsible for reviewing “the activities of all executive departments and agencies” in order to “identify any unlawful anti-Christian policies, practices, or conduct by an agency contrary to the purpose and policy of this order…” The task force will also implement new policies “to protect the religious liberties of Americans and advance the purpose and policy of this order…” The task force will be dissolved after two years.

In his executive order, Trump lamented that “the previous Administration engaged in an egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses.” He added, “The Biden Department of Justice sought to squelch faith in the public square 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.”

He continued, “At the same time, Catholic churches, charities, and pro-life centers sought justice for violence, theft, and arson perpetrated against them, which the Biden Department of Justice largely ignored.” He also noted that a 2023 FBI memo “asserted that ‘radical-traditionalist’ Catholics were domestic-terrorism threats and suggested infiltrating Catholic churches as ‘threat mitigation.’ This later-retracted FBI memorandum cited as support evidence propaganda from highly partisan sources.”

“In this atmosphere of anti-Christian government, hostility and vandalism against Christian churches and places of worship surged, with the number of such identified acts in 2023 exceeding by more than eight times the number from 2018,” Trump observed. He added, “Catholic churches and institutions have been aggressively targeted with hundreds of acts of hostility, violence, and vandalism.”

Arielle Del Turco, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at Family Research Council, said in comments to The Washington Stand, “This is exactly the whole-of-government approach that conservatives need to take to uncover and rectify the inappropriate policies of the past administration that demonstrated a bias against Christians.” She continued, “For too long, we have accepted as status-quo that the government will operate with a subtle prejudice against Christians. That’s just wrong, and America’s strong legal protections for religious freedom clearly prevent it.”

“It’s exciting that President Trump is tackling this effort at the highest level with a commission lead by his cabinet members and agency heads,” Del Turco added.

On the campaign trail over the last two years, Trump repeatedly promised the creation of such a task force. “As soon as I get back in the Oval Office, I’ll also immediately end the war on Christians,” Trump pledged in 2023, cataloging the Biden administration’s weaponization of government agencies against Christians. “Upon taking office, I will create a new federal task force on fighting anti-Christian bias to be led by a fully reformed Department of Justice that’s fair and equitable,” Trump stated at the time. While campaigning against then-Vice President Kamala Harris last year, Trump reiterated his commitment to “stop the Biden-Harris administration’s weaponization of law enforcement against Americans of faith” and said that “no longer will the DOJ and the FBI be allowed to target, persecute, or round up Christians or pro-life activists and throw them in jail for living out their religious beliefs.”

In addition to forming the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, Trump announced the formation of a presidential commission on religious liberty and the creation of a White House Faith Office, to be led by televangelist Paula White.

In his remarks Thursday, Trump also emphasized the importance of Christianity throughout American history. “At every stage of the American story, our country has drawn hope and courage and inspiration from our trust in the Almighty,” he said. The president continued, “Deep in the soul of every patriot is the knowledge that God has a special plan and a glorious mission for America. And that plan is going to happen. It’s going to happen.” He added, “And it’s His hand that guides us every single step of the way — and all of you. And the thing we have to do is to see the defining role that faith and prayer have played in the life of our nation.” Trump said that American heroes such as George Washington “remind us that without faith in God, there would be no American story. Every citizen should be proud of this exceptional heritage. We have an unbelievable heritage, and we have to use that and make life better for everyone.”

Referring to the assassination attempt he survived in July, the president continued, “None of us knows exactly when our time on Earth will be over — you never know — a truth I confronted a few short months ago when there was an incident that wasn’t — it was not fun. It was not a good thing. But God was watching me.” Trump said that surviving the assassination attempt “changed something in me, I feel even stronger. I believed in God, but I feel much more strongly about it. Something happened.”

He also called on elected leaders to live up to their commitments to improve the nation. “Each of us is blessed with a precious chance to help lead America to renew our pledges of faith and everything else and bring us to new heights and create a future of promise for our people and for ourselves,” Trump said. He continued, “So, today, we join our hearts and prayers in recommitting to putting our country first. We have to put our country first, making America stronger and greater and more exceptional than ever before.” He added, “And we have to make religion a much more important factor now. We have to make it an important factor. And if we do that … our job is just going to be much easier. It unifies people. It brings people together.”

Appearing on Thursday night’s episode of “Washington Watch,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) praised Trump’s creation of the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias. “It’s like we can breathe again, and people can actually relax because the tension that has been created by the previous Democrat administration was that you couldn’t even voice your opinion without being canceled,” the congressman shared. He said that the task force will be “so important for freedom of religion,” adding, “Just because America is a strong Christian nation at its core doesn’t mean that it’s a hateful country. … Christians are called to love. And that’s one of the things that I’m excited about, that we can show love to everyone, and we can respect one another and not be canceled for it.”