Earlier today, Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a new “White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative.”
While even President Obama had a version of this office catering to religious Americans, Trump’s is radically different and will likely give more power to evangelical Christians.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation explains some of the concerns with this order:
The aspect of the order with the most immediate impact (section 3) “creates the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative within the Executive Office of the President.” Trump appears to be ending one office — the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives — and starting a new one — the Faith and Opportunity Initiative — that does basically the same thing. Trump will appoint a new person to lead the office and a panel of “experts” to go along with it, giving the president the chance to reward his faithful base with a cushy government post. That post will have some power too, because, according to the press release, “Executive departments and agencies that lack a Center for Faith and Opportunity Initiative shall designate a Liaison for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives as a point of contact to coordinate with the advisor in carrying out this order.”
Even his signing ceremony included a lie, which is hardly surprising given what we’ve now come to expect from Trump and white evangelicals.
During his speech in the Rose Garden promoting the National Day of Prayer and touting this order, Trump said, “Last year on this day, I took executive action to prevent the Johnson Amendment — a disaster — from interfering with our First Amendment rights. I was so proud of that.”
I don’t know why he’s so proud of it considering even evangelical leaders admitted that day his order didn’t rescind the Johnson Amendment. An attempt by Republicans to stick the repeal in their tax bill was a failure, too, since including it would have placed the whole bill outside the scope of reconciliation.
Other groups have weighed in with their disappointment of this order. American Atheists said this new office would “further undermine religious freedom and pour even more taxpayer money into religious groups that are free to discriminate, have little accountability and zero transparency.”
Read the full story at the Friendly Atheist Blog
