Hicks told the task force that the schools — two of the largest evangelical schools in the country — were likely singled out due to their Christian worldviews, according to the report.
The report also highlighted a dispute between federal officials and a Catholic hospital system in Oklahoma over a candle in a chapel. Federal officials allegedly threatened to ban the hospital from Medicare and other programs unless the candle, seen as a fire hazard, was put out. The government relented after a lawyer from the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, sent a letter saying the government had previously ignored local fire safety rules and had refused to give the hospital a religious exemption.
In other findings, the task force report found the Treasury Department allowed financial institutions to “debank” Christian groups and that the IRS scrutinized the tax-exempt applications of Christian groups seeking nonprofit status. It also said the Department of Veterans Affairs reviewed 500 allegations of anti-Christian bias, including the denial of exemptions to vaccine mandates, providing abortion services and “mandating training inconsistent with Christian views.”
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The task force report also listed actions taken by Trump officials to address anti-Christian bias, including filing a lawsuit against an Idaho town for allegedly discriminating in a zoning dispute with a new church tied to Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson, intervening in several other zoning disputes involving churches and charging the Civil Rights Division with enforcing protections for pregnancy counseling centers. The Department of Justice also plans to issue new guidance on prayer in schools.
Four different lawsuits have been filed against the Trump administration by Christian denominations, organizations and other faith groups after the administration rescinded a policy discouraging immigration raids at houses of worship, arguing the change violates freedom of assembly guaranteed under the First Amendment and rights outlined by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. The administration is also facing at least two other lawsuits related to its ban on refugees and its cancellation of contracts with faith-based groups, including Christian organizations, that resettle refugees for the federal government, RNS previously reported.
The task force report ends by repeating claims that the Biden administration discriminated against Christians and promising to end such discrimination.
“By eradicating anti-Christian bias in the federal government,” the report states, “the Task Force is reaffirming a principle older than the Republic itself, that freedom of religion is not granted by government but guaranteed against it.”
This article originally appeared here.
