By Mona Austin
The Religious Freedom Commission presented an report on Friday that will further push the constitutional envelope on the separation of church and state. Following an appearance at a Faith and Freedom Coalition event held in Washington Friday where Pres. Donald Trump told supporters he remains a champion for religious freedom, members of the Commission, established by the Trump Administration last May, presented a 224-page draft report in the Oval Office. The commission and administration have been criticized for not balancing the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state. Their next move is to "sell" the point in the report to make religion more prevalent in American society.
However, the document explains that there is no intention to overlook the separation of church and state. “To be clear, this does not involve or require advocating ‘theocracy’ or even the total elimination of any separation between church and state,” the report says. Instead the intent is to honor the “tension between the relevant clauses of the First Amendment.”
The scope of the report appears to be for religion to be more pronounced in the public square via policy and engagement. It is a compilation based on the findings from public hearings that were held throughout 2025. The Commission, headed by Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, says it wants to use religion as a bridge in government. They also want to repeal the Johnson Amendment and establish national religious awards and erect statues of religious figures. Nonetheless, Patrick said religious
Americans had been "hammered" in the past by the term separation of church and state and now they “cannot be attacked by that phrase any longer.”
Toward the end of the document feedback that grasps the value of religious liberty is shared about its use during the Civil Rights Movement. “Religious liberty was not incidental to the civil rights movement. It was essential to it,” said Civil Rights advocate
Clarence Henderson. “Because of religious liberty, Jim Crow was put on trial. And because of religious liberty, Jim Crow was found guilty.” They said this is an example "of a rightly ordered relationship between church and state."
The Trump Administration has struggled to respect the bounds of the First Amendment on religious liberties. Trump has yet to reveal the specific recommendations in the report but his remarks suggest that his administration is attempting to fuse certain aspects of religion into society, which may go against two Constitutional clauses that protect religious freedom. First, the Establishment Clause, which states, "The Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…,” prevents the government from creating or favoring a state religion. Second, the Free Exercise Clause is intended to prevent the blocking of free religious expression. This clause protects every individual Americans' right to practice their faith --or no faith at all -- freely. Together, these clauses were designed to protect all religious people, not just Christians, and to prevent the government from using religion as a tool of control. These protections exist to stop the government from imposing religion.
CLICK TO READ THE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM COMMISSION REPORT
"We're going to sell it. We're going to sell some of the things that we have. We have some incredible recommendations. This group can sell. That's what we are going to be doing," he said of the forthcoming recommendations.
The members of the Commission are all conservatives, some of who were present for Friday's announcement including Dr. Ben Carson.
"I hate to joke but if this were a stock you'd be very rich because it has gone up like a rocket ship over the last year and a half and I'm very honored to be sitting here. Maybe I had something to do with it, but they've made some very strong recommendations and now we have to convince people to adhere by those regulations."