Museum of Bible Hosts First Meeting of New Religious Liberty Commission

The newly created Religious Liberty Commission held its first meeting on Monday at the Museum of the Bible in Washington. On the agenda for discussion by the commission was the history of religious liberty in the U.S. and the Supreme Court’s role in interpreting the rights to religious expression and exercise.

“[I]t’s so vitally important to [President Donald Trump] and to the White House Faith Office to develop and execute a long-term strategy to protect religious freedoms for all Americans, of all faiths, for all times,” senior adviser of the White House Faith Office and commission member Paula White said at the meeting.

“[W]e must protect and defend our freedom to practice religion with every single fiber of our being. To keep people and the country strong without fear of government discrimination,” White said.

The commission is part of President Donald Trump’s promise at the National Prayer Breakfast in February to “protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government, in our workplaces, hospitals, and in our public squares,” and “bring our country back together as one nation under God.

The commission, established in May through an executive order by Trump, is composed of high-ranking government officials and members of the public. Some of its duties include recommending “steps to secure domestic religious liberty by executive or legislative actions, as well as identifying opportunities for the White House Faith Office to partner with the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom to further the cause of religious liberty around the world.”

The Commission includes as ex officio members Attorney General Pam Bondi; Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner (who is also a Baptist minister); and Vince Haley, the director of the Domestic Policy Council.  

The chairman of the commission is Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is a Baptist. Former HUD Secretary Ben Carson, a practicing Seventh-day Adventist, serves as the vice chair. 

Academics on the commission include Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, a scholar at Yeshiva University; Ryan T. Anderson, the president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, whose book on transgenderism was initially banned by Amazon, and Kelly Shackelford, an expert on the U.S. Constitution who has argued before the Supreme Court who heads the First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit law firm dedicated to protecting religious freedom. 

Catholic clerics represented on the commission include Bishop Robert Barron, the creator of the online Word on Fire ministry, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York. Carrie Prejean Boller, a former Miss California USA winner, and a recent convert to Catholicism is a lay member of the government panel.

Franklin Graham—the president of Samaritan’s Purse and the son of perhaps America’s best-known evangelist, the late Billy Graham—represents the Southern Baptists. 

Other members include Dr. Phil McGraw, a psychologist and television host who has discussed at length his Christian faith, and Allyson Ho, one of the top appellate lawyers in the country.

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