WASHINGTON D.C. – The Trump administration has stepped up its response to what it calls widespread “anti-Christian bias” in federal agencies. A new task force has been set up to investigate claims of discrimination that officials say increased under the previous administration. This move comes as debates continue over reports that the FBI targeted Catholics and other Christians during Biden’s presidency.
At the centre of this push is Executive Order 14202, signed on 6 February 2025. This order created the “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias in the Federal Government,” with Attorney General Pamela Bondi leading the team.
Their role is to review all government departments, flag any rules or actions seen as “anti-Christian,” and suggest fixes. The order’s goal is to defend religious freedoms and end what the administration calls the “anti-Christian weaponisation of government.”
During the task force’s first meeting at the Department of Justice on 22 April, Attorney General Bondi accused the previous administration of targeting peaceful Christians and ignoring attacks against them. Cabinet officials and witnesses shared personal stories, claiming bias in several government sectors.
Reports included accusations that the Biden Justice Department charged around two dozen pro-life Christians with felonies for peaceful protests near abortion clinics, while, at the same time, failing to investigate hundreds of attacks on Catholic churches, charities and pro-life groups.
Christians Felt Targeted
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described how some religious healthcare workers felt forced to go against their beliefs or risk losing access to federal funding. Concerns also came up about Christian Foreign Service Officers who chose to homeschool their children and about financial monitoring by the Treasury Department.
A key point in the administration’s argument focuses on an FBI memo from 2023 that has since been withdrawn. This document, from the FBI’s Richmond office, described “radical-traditionalist Catholics” as potential domestic threats and recommended monitoring Catholic churches for security reasons.
The FBI quickly pulled the memo and said it did not meet its standards. However, a Senate Judiciary Committee investigation found that the memo was widely circulated, reaching more than 1,000 FBI staff across the country.
Chairman Chuck Grassley uncovered that similar language appeared in at least 13 other FBI documents, often based on material from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). An internal email raised concerns about relying too much on the SPLC when labelling hate groups.
These findings have led some Republican lawmakers and conservative groups to claim the FBI, under Biden, unfairly targeted religious groups, particularly Catholics, based on their beliefs. They argue that the repeated use of such language shows a deeper problem in how the government views religious groups and that this needs serious investigation.
Unfair treatment of Christians
On the other hand, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report in April 2024 stated that while analysts broke FBI rules, there was no sign of “malicious intent” or a deliberate attempt to link religious groups to extremism. The FBI has restated that it did not target anyone because of their faith.
The Trump administration says its current actions are needed to correct what it sees as past overreach and unfair treatment of Christians. The task force is charged with finding past problems and suggesting new laws or actions to protect religious rights in the future.
Groups like Democracy Forward and Interfaith Alliance criticize the Executive Order and the task force. They say there is no strong evidence of anti-Christian bias in the US that would justify such measures.
These groups warn that the task force could end up favouring a narrow group of right-wing Christians, putting other faiths and secular people at risk, and could bypass anti-discrimination laws under the idea of protecting religious freedom. They argue this focus on “anti-Christian bias” takes attention away from real threats faced by religious minorities worldwide and could harm America’s tradition of religious equality.
As the task force carries on, arguments over the presence of anti-Christian bias in government and the role of faith in public life are expected to stay at the forefront of political discussion.
