Members of the White House Religious Liberty Commission presented their final draft report to President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon.
The report draws on testimony and findings from seven hearings held since Trump created the commission last year, including accounts from more than 100 witnesses who described growing concerns over religious liberty in American public life.
“Although their circumstances differed, their stories shared a common theme,” the report said of the witnesses. “Far too often in our national life, religion is treated not as a protected and valued contribution to public life, but as a problem or annoyance to be managed, restricted, or sidelined.”
The commission warned that this approach has contributed to conflicts across American society and has weakened protections for religious liberty at multiple levels.
“Among our conclusions, we believe that safeguarding religious liberty requires more than defending legal rights after they have been violated. It requires cultivating a culture that understands why those rights exist in the first place,” it said.
The report also argued that the phrase “a wall of separation between church and state,” which it noted does not appear in the U.S. Constitution, has often been misused to push religious Americans out of public life.
According to the commission, America’s founding documents do not suggest that faith was meant to have no influence on government, nor that the First Amendment was intended “to exile the practice of religion from public life.” Instead, the report described religious liberty as “a bridge between church and state,” saying the two institutions can “strengthen and support one another.”
The report outlined 12 recommendations aimed at strengthening religious liberty protections. Its first recommendation called on the U.S. Department of Justice to issue guidance clarifying the proper understanding of the Establishment Clause and the relationship between church and state.
The commission also urged the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to issue “Know Your Rights” posters for students, parents, public school teachers, administrators, religious leaders, religious institutions, healthcare workers and members of the military.
In addition, the report recommended that those agencies establish religious liberty hotlines and online portals to help students, parents, teachers and healthcare workers seek support when they believe their rights have been violated.
Other recommendations included nominating federal judges who respect religious liberty, using civil rights laws to combat antisemitism, directing the Department of Justice to create a religious liberty task force and restoring retirement or re-enlistment eligibility for service members who refused COVID-19 injections.
The commission also called for repealing the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 federal tax provision that bars tax-exempt organizations from directly or indirectly endorsing or opposing political candidates.
