(RNS) — Almost immediately after the Trump administration’s Religious Liberty Commission released its draft 224-page report Friday (June 26), several faith and civic leaders responded with criticism.
“The report and the commission behind it fail to represent and uplift the importance of religious diversity and tolerance for all faiths in our country — not just a special, chosen few,” the Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, president and CEO of Interfaith Alliance, said in a statement.
The report is “not a blueprint for protecting religious freedom. It is a roadmap for expanding religious privilege,” said Secular Coalition for America Executive Director Steven Emmert in a statement.
The 12-member advisory commission, established by executive order in May 2025, is made up of 11 Christians, many of them allies of President Donald Trump, and one Orthodox Jew. Tasked with publishing a report on the history and state of religious liberty, the commission has held hearings in which witnesses and members spoke about religious intolerance and intimidation, primarily faced by Christians. Critics have long attacked the commission for being partisan and ignoring issues such as Islamophobia, and a lawsuit filed by groups representing interfaith, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu organizations that challenges the commission’s composition is pending.
The report set forward dozens of legal and policy recommendations, including establishing a religious liberty violation hotline, forming a Department of Justice religious liberty task force, expanding funding for school choice and appointing judges with a proven commitment to religious liberty.
What follows below are some takeaways:
The commission argues there is a misunderstanding of separation of church and state. The report said that the “wall of separation of church and state” metaphor has been misapplied and weaponized to restrict religion’s place in public life. Noting that a wall of separation of church and state never appears in the Constitution, the report contends that religious liberty is the “bridge” between church and state. It recommends that the Department of Justice issue guidance clarifying that.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation was among organizations to raise an alarm, noting the First Amendment’s establishment clause bars passing any laws that favor one religion over another. “The Establishment Clause exists precisely because the government must remain neutral on matters of religion,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker in a statement.
The commission recommends repealing the Johnson Amendment, which forbids nonprofits, including houses of worship, from endorsing political candidates. The commission also recommended that the IRS issue guidance against enforcing the restrictions on “religious speech by houses of worship and faith-based non-profits” until it is repealed.
The report focuses mostly on perceived anti-Christian bias. Islamophobia is scarcely covered, despite the fact that a recent PRRI poll details a rise in Islamophobia. Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Baháʼí and Native American faiths also are not mentioned in the report. While the report acknowledges antisemitism, it defines it partially in terms of Zionism: Antisemitism, it says, is an “ideology that seeks to erase Jewish history and deny the Jewish people’s ancestral connection to the land of Israel.” The report also fails to discuss the rights or experiences of the religiously unaffiliated, who make up roughly a third of all Americans today.
The report does not discuss the pending religious freedom lawsuits filed by religious groups and leaders. More than 50 denominations, regional religious bodies and individual houses of worship have signed on to four separate lawsuits claiming the Trump administration violated their religious freedom by rescinding an internal government policy that discouraged immigration raids on houses of worship.
The draft report is open for public comment until July 12, after which the commission will hold a virtual public meeting to finalize the report. Information about the meeting will be posted on the commission’s website at least seven days prior to the meeting. Public comments can be emailed to RLC@usdoj.gov using the subject line, PUBLIC COMMENT – [TOPIC OR CHAPTER NUMBER] – [NAME]. The commission encourages respondents to refrain from using personally identifiable information in their comments.
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