Trump is attacking the foundations of church-state separation

President Trump said last week that he doesn’t know whether it’s his job to uphold the U.S. Constitution. That explains a lot about his actions — including his recent dismissal of church-state separation, a constitutional principle that protects religious freedom and legal equality for all.

At a May 1 White House rose garden event on the National Day of Prayer, which did include prayers offered by a rabbi and imam, Trump announced an executive order creating a Religious Liberty Commission stacked with his supporters. Trump took credit for “bringing religion back to our country” — a ridiculous claim. Noting that critics might raise concerns about church-state separation, Trump said, “Let’s forget about that for one time.” 

Trump’s comments reflected how fully he has embraced his marriage of convenience with the religious right movement. Many of Trump’s allies want us to “forget about” separation of church and state, which some call a “myth.” In truth it is a central feature of our constitutional form of government and we must not allow it to be dismantled in pursuit of making America a “Christian nation.”

Many members of Trump’s new Religious Liberty Commission raise red flags. One of them is Eric Metaxas, a conspiracy theorist and cultish Trump devotee who, like fellow commission member Paula White, calls Trump’s political opponents demonic.

Another is Kelly Shackleford, a lawyer who works to undermine church-state separation. Shackleford has endorsed an effort by the Center for Judicial Renewal, a project of the American Family Association’s advocacy arm, to impose a religious test on future Supreme Court justices. They want conservative presidents and senators to only consider potential justices and federal judges who meet their organization’s standards as “constitutional judges,” specifically holding a religious worldview aligned with theirs.

Even at a time when Christian nationalists are pushing to replace school counselors with chaplains, and demanding taxpayer funds for religious schools, the idea that our judges have to meet a religious test that would exclude millions of Americans, including many Christians, is beyond the pale.  

The idea that this country is meant to be run by and for Christians, and that people of other faiths are somehow less American, contributes to rising bigotry and violence directed at those people of other faiths, including Jews and Muslims.

To be clear, Christians who are not aligned with Trump are also targets. The recent election of Pope Leo XIV, who has advocated for the poor and criticized Trump’s immigration policies, has been denounced by MAGA activists.

Just a few days after Trump’s rose garden photo op, I had an opportunity to be in conversation with Rabbi David Saperstein, a constitutional lawyer and wise spiritual leader. He led the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism for decades. He loves this country and has devoted his life to defending all that is best about it. 

Rabbi Saperstein told a gathering of young elected officials that by guaranteeing religious freedom, keeping religion and state separate, and banning any religious test for public office, our founders created for the first time in human history a nation that promised that your rights as a citizen would never depend on your religious identity, religious beliefs, or religious practices.  

Like many of the promises in our founding documents, it took a long time for those promises to be fully embraced and enforced. 

When the Supreme Court did begin to uphold church-state separation, religious minorities were able to move more fully into American civic and economic life and flourish. It also began a long backlash, one that has been building momentum, led by those who believe the country rightfully belongs to them.

Some of Trump’s allies argue that Christians who see the world as they do must act to take “dominion” over government, education, media, and other institutions and get the power to transform our nation to their liking. Their political alliance with Trump makes it more possible to pursue these goals. So does the failure of most elected Republicans to defend the country’s ideals.

Rabbi Saperstein reminded us that major advances of the 20th Century in civil rights, environmental protection, opportunity and access for people with disabilities, legal equality for women, gays and transgender people were made possible by bipartisan, multiracial, and multireligious coalitions of decency.

As recently as 2006, the Voting Rights Act was reauthorized by overwhelming bipartisan majorities — including a 98 to 0 vote in the U.S. Senate. Today it’s hard to even imagine its passage by a Republican-led Congress. 

That’s bad news for the U.S. We need bipartisan commitments to the Constitution and the ideals it embodies, including the rule of law, due process for every person in the country, and genuine religious freedom.

Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter, who died last week, was a Republican who strongly defended church-state separation and religious liberty. We need a lot more Republicans willing to side with the Constitution and against Trump’s ongoing rampages.   

Svante Myrick is president of People for the American Way.