He orders a task force against “anti-Christian bias” that NGOs denounce as an attack on the separation of Church and State
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has announced this Saturday the appointment of the televangelist Paula White to head the newly created White House Office for Faith, an agency dedicated to “supporting religious entities, community organizations and places of worship in their efforts to strengthen American families”, as well as to the “protection of religious freedom”.
This new agency replaces the so-called Office for Neighborhood and Faith-Based Partnerships launched in 2001 by the then president of the United States, George W. Bush, and preserved with certain changes by his Democratic successors Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
In the order, Trump or the office to identify ways to reduce burdens on the free exercise of religion and requires all federal agencies to designate a “religious liaison” within 90 days.
Trump announced this decision last Friday and added the upcoming issuance of an order to create a “task force against anti-Christian bias to “pursue anti-Christian violence and vandalism in society,” and to “defend the rights of Christians and religious believers around the world.”
The association Americans United, defender of the separation between Church and State, has denounced the creation of this task force, understanding that “instead of protecting religious beliefs, this group will misuse religious freedom to justify intolerance, discrimination and subversion of our civil rights laws,” according to statements by its president, Rachel Laser, to the newspaper ‘The New York Times’.
