Janet Parshall Commentary

Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias

         The President of the United States recently announced the establishment of a task force designed to protect Christians.  Let me tell you about their first meeting.

         Last week, Attorney General Pamela Bondi hosted members of the President’s Cabinet at the U.S. Department of Justice for the inaugural meeting of the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias in the federal government. The Task Force, which was established by President Trump under Executive Order 14202, was joined by Christians who were unfairly targeted by the previous administration for their religious beliefs.

         Three witnesses spoke before the task force to offer evidence of the increasing hostility against Christians. Mike Farris, founder of Patrick Henry College and formerly head of Alliance Defending Freedom discussed how a church in northern Virginia was investigated and charged by the IRS for the so-called Johnson Amendment, which prohibits Churches from endorsing political candidates. It should be noted that the IRS takes a ‘pick and choose’ approach to who gets investigated. 

         Dr Scott Hicks, Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Liberty University, described how Liberty University and Grand Canyon University faced millions of dollars in fines by the previous administration due to the schools’ Christian worldview. Phil Mendes, a Navy seal also testified of how he was relieved of duty for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine due to religious exemption requests that were denied by the Department of Defense.

         FBI Director Kash Patel discussed the impact of the anti-Catholic memo issued by FBI Richmond and reiterated the FBI’s commitment to rooting out any anti-Christian bias that could be directing decisions or investigations.

         Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised several concerning allegations of bias, including some against Christian Foreign Service Officers who preferred to homeschool their children. In one case, a family was threatened with an investigation for child abuse and curtailment if they insisted on homeschooling. In another case, a family was referred to the IRS, threatened with prosecution, and investigated by Biden’s Inspector General for insisting they homeschool their son. The Secretary of HHS talked about progressive rules put in place that make it harder for Christian parents to foster children, while the Secretary of Education noted that teachers are being punished regarding gender identity education and why their rights of conscience, and the rights of parents, need to be protected. Multiple other agency representatives offered numerous reports of anti-Christian bias embedded in the federal government.

         I, for one, am pleased that such a task force has been formed.  The First Amendment protects Christians from discrimination and the law should be enforced. But I am also keenly aware that, in the end, the battle isn’t coming from Washington.  It’s emanating from the camp of the enemy who still prowls, seeking whom he may devour.  He will stop at nothing to try and discourage Christians from faithfully walking with Jesus. But greater is He who is in us than he who is the temporary prince of this world.

         Those are my thoughts. I’m Janet Parshall.