The Trump administration is considering a series of recommendations aimed at expanding protections for religious expression in public life — an effort led by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick that is expected to reignite debate over the separation of church and state.
Commission Recommendations
President Donald Trump created the Commission on Religious Liberty and selected Patrick to chair it. After hearing testimony from more than 100 witnesses over seven months, the commission released 12 recommendations that now await further debate.
Standing alongside the president, television host Dr. Phil McGraw and other commission members, Patrick presented the findings. “It’s our conscience. It’s that little voice inside of us that tells us right from wrong,” Patrick said.
Patrick argued that many witnesses told the commission they faced consequences for publicly expressing their faith because of what he described as a misunderstanding of the separation of church and state. “The overwhelming majority of our witnesses said that they were attacked and punished, and what was used against them was one phrase that’s not in the Constitution. And that phrase is ‘separation of church and state,’” Patrick said.
Proposed Protections
The recommendations call for actions involving agencies, including the Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Among the proposals are protections for religious expression in public settings, such as teachers praying before class and students wearing or displaying crosses.
President Trump said the recommendations now need broader support before they can move forward. “They’ve made some very strong recommendations, and now we have to convince people to adhere by those regulations,” Trump said.
Andrew Freeman with the Texas Freedom Network said weakening the concept of separating church and state could allow the government to favor one religion over another. “You have a lot of implied rights that aren’t expressly written about, but things that we cherish as Americans, like the fact that you’re innocent until proven guilty,” Freeman said.
Freeman also said religious beliefs should remain a private matter. “These should be and always have been conversations that happen at home. That are beliefs that are shared with the family, with their places of worship, it’s private,” Freeman said.
The commission’s recommendations also include repealing the law that bans churches from endorsing pro-life advocates or other political candidates, creating a new Presidential Award for Religious Liberty and issuing new legal guidance from the Department of Justice.
Original reporting: Dallas TX News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
