{"id":41904,"date":"2025-01-22T22:14:40","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T22:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/activist\/trump-will-bulldoze-the-separation-of-church-and-state\/"},"modified":"2025-01-22T22:14:40","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T22:14:40","slug":"trump-will-bulldoze-the-separation-of-church-and-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=41904","title":{"rendered":"Trump Will Bulldoze the Separation of Church and State"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A good indication on how church-state issues will play out in Donald Trump\u2019s second presidential term can be found in his shameless hawking of an \u201cInauguration Day Bible,\u201d<\/a> part of a merch promotion from which he\u2019s personally receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties. In marketing this book ($69.99, not including shipping) Trump has insisted,<\/a> \u201cWe must make America pray again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This unsavory mix of church, state, and personal hucksterism foretells how brazenly we can expect Trump to continue to exploit religion and pander to his base of white evangelicals, 82 percent<\/a> of whom voted for him. Trump, who appears to have never read the First Amendment with its promise that the government must not favor any particular religion, has vowed<\/a> that one of his first actions will be to root out \u201canti-Christian bias\u201d and protect<\/a> \u201cpro-God context and content.\u201d<\/p>\n

We know from Trump\u2019s first term how amenable he is to redefining \u201creligious freedom\u201d to mean the freedom to discriminate. He signed countless executive orders blurring the distinction between church and state, including orders<\/a> granting faith-based contractors and health care workers a religious exemption from discrimination claims. All executive departments and agencies were tasked<\/a> with adopting \u201creligious liberty protections\u201d that likewise advanced the right to discriminate based on religious grounds. We can expect expansion of such special privileges for the \u201cright\u201d kinds of believers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example, Trump will undoubtedly repeat his unfounded claim<\/a> that he has \u201crepealed\u201d the Johnson Amendment. That federal law, which enjoys popular support,<\/a> ensures that nonprofits, including churches, are not engaging in partisan electioneering with their tax-free donations. Without the Johnson Amendment, churches\u2014which are exempt from reporting requirements applying to other charities\u2014could become dark money political operatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a nation predicated on a Constitution that bars religious tests for public office, we can expect another unconstitutional executive order, similar to the one he signed<\/a> in 2017, banning travel to the United States based on a religious test primarily applied to Muslims from certain nations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Trump may be cynically using his Christian nationalist base, leaders of that movement are even more cynically exploiting Trump to attack the secular foundations of the United States. They have made no secret of their agenda in documents such as Project 2025<\/a>, a 900-plus page policy agenda with an overtly Christian nationalist laundry list. Key agenda items include instituting universal vouchers for religious schools, which Trump has endorsed<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Project 2025, Vice President J.D. Vance, and other ideologues are also calling to resuscitate<\/a> the 1873 zombie \u201cComstock Act,\u201d which would ban the mailing and shipping of contraceptives or abortifacients, thereby abolishing access to most contraception and abortion. And Project 2025 advocates for a \u201cbiblically based\u201d definition of marriage and family and dismantling nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ Americans in the name of \u201creligious liberty.\u201d It even suggests amending the Fair Labor Standards Act to establish<\/a> Sunday as the \u201cSabbath.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of Trump\u2019s cabinet selections and other appointments, including his controversial defense secretary pick, Pete Hegseth<\/a>, adhere to Christian nationalism. A slew<\/a> of Trump\u2019s nominees to environmental, energy, and other vital posts either deny human-caused climate change or plan to look the other way. This also placates the views of many white evangelicals, 68 percent <\/a>of whom largely deny that climate change is tied to human activity. Trump is also expected to continue his radical changes to the makeup of the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court, which brought America the Dobbs<\/em> decision overturning Roe v. Wade<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cMy life was saved for a reason,\u201d Trump said in his inauguration speech<\/a>, referring to his attempted assassination. \u201cI was saved by God to make America great again.\u201d He said his administration\u2019s mission is to \u201cgive the people back their faith,\u201d framing his presidency as not just an electoral mandate but a divine mission.<\/p>\n

As the second Trump Administration brazenly bulldozes the vaunted wall of separation between church and state, such destruction will also erode precious individual liberties which depend on keeping dogma out of government. Americans who treasure what has truly made our country great\u2014a secular Constitution that keeps religion out of our laws and social policies\u2014must speak up to safeguard democracy for ourselves and future generations.<\/p>\n

This column was produced for <\/em>Progressive Perspectives<\/em><\/a>, a project of The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \t\"Annie<\/a><\/p>\n

Annie Laurie Gaylor<\/a><\/h3>\n

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Annie Laurie Gaylor is co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (www.ffrf.org), a national association whose purpose is to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church.<\/p>\n

Read more by Annie Laurie Gaylor<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

January 21, 2025<\/p>\n

4:30 PM<\/p>\n

<\/time>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A good indication on how church-state issues will play out in Donald Trump\u2019s second presidential term can be found in his shameless hawking of an \u201cInauguration Day Bible,\u201d part of a merch promotion from which he\u2019s personally receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties. In marketing this book ($69.99, not including shipping) Trump has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12022],"tags":[26257,26258,16928,12795,4378,21046,6692,2450,4484,5296,1175],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-41904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activist","tag-annie-laurie-gaylor","tag-bulldoze","tag-church","tag-donald-trump","tag-government","tag-opinion","tag-politics","tag-religion","tag-separation","tag-state","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump Will Bulldoze the Separation of Church and State - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=41904\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump Will Bulldoze the Separation of Church and State - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A good indication on how church-state issues will play out in Donald Trump\u2019s second presidential term can be found in his shameless hawking of an \u201cInauguration Day Bible,\u201d part of a merch promotion from which he\u2019s personally receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties. 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