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Feb. 6 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he plans to create a task force and commission to protect Christians from being targeted and discriminated against within the federal government. Trump said, during the national prayer breakfast in the U.S. Capitol Building that he seeks to protect Christians in schools, the military, the government, workplaces, hospitals and public squares.
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"We have to make religion a much more important factor now. It brings people together," Trump said. "Democrats will be able to have lunch again with Republicans."
"We will bring our country back together as one nation under God," he said earlier.
Attorney General Pam Bondi will lead the task force to "eradicate anti-Christian bias," based on an executive order Trump intends to sign. The White House will also commission a "faith office" that will be led by Rev. Paula White.
White has been a religious adviser to Trump. She is president of Paula White Ministries, based in Apopka, Fla., and president of the National Faith Advisory Board.
The Civil Rights Act already protects federal employees from discrimination based on religion. This includes discrimination based on the religion a person practices, characteristics that are associated with their religion such as the way they dress, the perception of someone's religion or their association with a religion.
According to a Pew Research survey in 2019, Republican- and Democrat-leaning respondents agreed that Muslims face the most discrimination in the United States. About 65% of Americans, at the time, described themselves as Christians.
In a 2024 Pew survey, Democrat-leaning participants responded that Muslims face "a lot of discrimination." Twenty-four-percent of Republican-leaning participants said evangelical Christians face "a lot of discrimination." They reported that 40% believed Jews and 27% believed Muslims face "a lot of discrimination."
