A-Infos (en) Italy, UCADI, #210 - War on secularism and separatism in the United States (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

At the beginning of his second presidential term in 2025, Trump, while 
attending the National Prayer Breakfast, established a White House Faith 
Office, appointing the histrionic Pastor Paula Wite to head it, and 
issued an executive order establishing a Commission on Religious 
Freedom, instructing then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to create a task 
force to investigate and eradicate anti-Christian prejudice . The 
Commission was to address all threats to Christianity within the 
government, but also in government agencies such as the FBI, IRS, and 
Department of Justice, as well as in society, working closely with the 
Domestic Policy Council , which includes key administration officials 
and members of the presidential cabinet. On June 26, 2026, the 
Commission published its first 224-page 
report.[https://www.justice.gov/religious-liberty-commission/media/1449896/dl?inline]. 
The commission consisted of 13 members, including ex officio government 
officials , religious leaders, and legal experts.
Commission Chair Dan Patrick - Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Dr. Ben 
Carson (Vice Chair) - Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban 
Development, Kelly Shackelford - President and CEO of First Liberty 
Institute, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik - Rabbi of Congregation Shearith 
Israel, Paula White - Senior Advisor to the White House Faith Office, 
Bishop Thomas Paprocki - Bishop of Springfield, Illinois, Cardinal 
Timothy Dolan - Archbishop of New York, Rev. Franklin Graham - 
Evangelist and Missionary, Dr. Phil McGraw - Psychologist and Television 
Personality, Bishop Robert Barron - Bishop and Founder of Word on Fire, 
Ryan Anderson - President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Carrie 
Prejean Boller - Member Commissioner.
The Commission's report is divided into a first chapter dedicated to the 
importance of religion in supporting the state, society, and what are 
defined as civic virtues, which coincide with humanitarian law; the 
protection of the family in raising children; oversight of the cultural 
content of teaching in public schools; public funding of private and 
homeschooling; respect for choices in health and ethical matters 
(abortion and end-of-life practices); the social bonds of divorce; and 
the pursuit of happiness.
The second and third chapters of the Report revisit and reinterpret the 
Supreme Court's jurisprudence on these matters, offering a biased and 
partisan reading aimed at attacking the secular and separatist 
jurisprudence that has systematically penalized and penalized broader 
demands for religious freedom, undermined by excessive secularism, 
opposed to families' absolute power to educate minors, and, above all, 
victimized by woke culture, accused of seeking to eliminate social 
inequalities, racism, sexism, and the protection of minority rights. 
Active measures to combat historical and racial discrimination by 
promoting a critical review of history and culture from a progressive 
perspective are particularly opposed.
The Commission suggests a return to tradition, supporting religious 
pluralism, promoting the return of religion to education, especially in 
public schools, increasing funding for private schools and 
homeschooling, combating abortion and end-of-life treatments, and 
generally combating gender culture by actively combating gender change 
and opposing woke culture more generally.
The subsequent chapters examine issues related to the exercise of 
religious freedom and the presence of a religious orientation in 
teaching in secondary schools and on university campuses, denouncing the 
repression of parental rights in choosing content and teaching methods, 
the presence of religion in the military and throughout the defense 
apparatus, the conditioning of public healthcare funding, and demanding 
respect for religious principles and the protection of conscientious 
objection for religious reasons in healthcare, especially regarding 
abortion and the fight against mandatory vaccinations. In Chapter 11, 
the Commission addresses the issue of anti-Semitism, then moves on to 
the protection of places of worship, concluding with a general overview 
of the obstacles to religious freedom in the public and private sectors.
Each chapter of the Report contains a partial conclusion and a list of 
recommendations intended to influence the resolution of the problems 
identified, suggesting legislative interventions, ways to engage the 
authorities, procedures for seeking judicial protection, and anything 
else that can contribute to changing institutional attitudes toward 
these issues. The report concludes with a series of considerations 
summarizing the positions expressed in detail in the report on 
individual issues.
It is suggested that these issues be part of civic education delivered 
in public institutions, so as to counter secularism, seen as a solution 
to conflicts between Church and State, support religious Americans, 
promote fruitful collaboration with traditionalist institutions 
supposedly working for the common good, and foster appreciation for the 
United States' religious heritage. It also encourages celebration of 
religion and its contributions to societal cohesion. It also addresses 
the right to public policies related to education, healthcare, the armed 
forces, and religiously inspired institutions, which need to be 
strengthened. It also addresses the legal system and the judiciary, 
whose work must be guided and controlled by the government. Only under 
these conditions can current trends be reversed, reintroducing the 
presence of religion in society, at every stage of human life.
At the end of the report, two appendices are dedicated to conceptually 
overcoming the so-called "wall of separation" between Church and State 
that has until now guaranteed the secularity of the American system and 
inspired judicial decisions. To achieve this goal, students in public 
schools must assert their rights to religious freedom by requiring the 
presence of religion. Parents and public school staff must also assert 
their right to religious freedom in the workplace, recalling that they
all have the right, as employees, to place religious symbols in the 
classroom or teach religion in school. It is recalled that university 
students have the same right, and that any parent can request that their 
child be excused from classes or activities contrary to their faith. 
Healthcare workers can do the same by refusing to participate in 
practices contrary to their faith or by refusing to administer or 
receive vaccines. Members of the military can also request 
accommodations to practice their religion appropriately, as can those 
working in the private sector.
The right of religious leaders to preach and teach in public and in 
institutions is reaffirmed, as is the right of local legislators to open 
public gatherings with prayers, add religious holidays to the calendar, 
and maintain religious symbols on public property. The right of the 
President, governors, and mayors to issue proclamations on holidays and 
religious matters is reaffirmed.
Appendix B of the report formulates 12 key recommendations to strengthen 
the religious freedom of all Americans, suggesting publicly honoring 
religious freedom heroes, commemorating the appreciation of the United 
States' religious heritage, highlighting religion's contribution to 
freedom, and promoting religion in public education, fostering awareness 
of its educational and value-building importance.
The report concludes with a set of recommendations, the first and most 
important of which is addressed to President Trump, urging him to take 
executive action to make domestic religious freedom a permanent policy 
priority, similar to what is already done for international religious 
freedom, which is promoted through the United States Commission on 
International Religious Freedom .

Interventions to protect religion

The first protection must be granted to religious leaders, eliminating 
the proceedings against them that often have a preemptive, intimidating 
effect. This can be achieved by influencing the appointment of judges 
and selecting them based on their favor religiosis and proven commitment 
to defending religion. The same approach and determination must be 
applied to officials of federal agencies, through the establishment of 
"Divisions for Conscience and Religious Freedom" throughout the federal 
government. These divisions are tasked with responding to and 
investigating complaints regarding alleged violations of religious 
freedom, enforcing religious freedom laws and regulations, conducting 
audits of their department's or agency's policies, programs, and 
practices to identify religious discrimination, recommending and 
overseeing remedies to eliminate any religiously discriminatory 
policies, programs, or practices, publishing reports on violations of 
religious freedom, investigations, enforcement actions, and the 
solutions adopted, issuing guidelines on the religious freedom rights of 
entities under the jurisdiction of the department or agency, and 
implementing the report's recommendations. The Commission further 
recommends that the President and the White House Faith Office encourage 
the formation of Religious Liberty Commissions and Faith Offices in all 
fifty states and internationally. To ensure Americans enjoy the full 
enjoyment of religious liberty protections under the Constitution and 
law, the Department of Justice should also develop a dedicated Religious 
Liberty Task Force which should: advocate for the overturning of 
precedents such as Employment Division v. Smith, City of Boerne v. 
Flores, and Christian Legal Society v. Martinez; advocate for American 
communities that adopt laws, policies, or practices that reflect their 
religious culture and are consistent with historical practices and 
interpretations under the Establishment Clause; advance arguments for 
the distinct and necessary authority of parents to direct the religious 
education of their children, consistent with the nation's history and 
traditions, and in collaboration with other federal parental rights 
initiatives; limit the federal government's assertion of compelling 
public interests in cases clearly based on existing law, issue 
cease-and-desist letters to any state or local authority regarding 
statutes, administrative rules, or operational guidelines that contain 
discriminatory restrictions based on religion on access to public 
programs or funding.
The government should also address litigation and amend legislation to 
support religion and its institutions, ensuring and facilitating public 
funding, granting greater religious freedom to associations, even at the 
expense of the rights and freedoms of the workers they employ, and 
prioritizing religious associations and families in foster care and 
adoptions. The report provides specific recommendations regarding 
litigation, suggesting legislative measures aimed at fully protecting 
the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and establishing the 
primacy of its provisions over all others, encouraging the provision of 
public funding.
Of particular concern is the recommendation, following President Trump's 
Executive Order of November 13, 2025, " Fostering the Future for 
American Children and Families ," aimed at maximizing foster care 
partnerships for religious Americans. The order recommends reviewing all 
applicable regulations regarding foster care and adoption. The 
Department of Health and Human Services should interpret the RFRA to 
favor adoptions or foster care that ensure religious education. Similar 
guidelines should be issued for health care institutions, public 
schools, the enhancement of the military's role, supporting military 
chaplains, and actions taken by associations, favoring religious ones. 
Further action is suggested to protect those who refuse vaccinations for 
themselves and others, as well as the interpretation of the presidential 
order " Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans ," and other 
measures aimed at ending religious discrimination in banking, insurance, 
and data services.

The confessionalization of American society

With this measure, the Trump administration is preparing for a cultural 
and legislative intervention aimed at clericalizing and sectarianizing 
American society. Unable to act on the level of amendments to the First 
Amendment, it is providing an interpretation and suggesting a strictly 
sectarian application, exploiting the discretion of the judiciary and 
the administration and the interpretative flexibility of the rules 
typical of a common law system. Indeed, amending the First Amendment, 
like any other part of the United States Constitution, would have 
required an extremely rigorous formal process, established by Article V 
of the Constitution, to be amended or even repealed.
This process involves two distinct phases: proposal and ratification. 
The proposed amendment must be presented to Congress and must be 
approved by a two-thirds (67%) majority in both the House of 
Representatives and the Senate. Two-thirds of state legislatures (34 out 
of 50) can request Congress to convene a "National Convention" to 
propose amendments. Due to the difficulties and majorities required, 
this method has never been used in the history of the United States.
Once approved and officially proposed, the amendment must be ratified to 
become law, following one of two methods established by Congress.
It must be approved by the legislatures of three-quarters of the states 
(at least 38 of the 50 states) and by special conventions convened in 
three-quarters of the states. This method has been used only once in the 
history of the United States.
The system was deliberately designed by the Founding Fathers to be 
highly complex and requires bipartisan consensus at the national level, 
making constitutional amendments very rare.
Trump's majority in Congress is insufficient to permit this procedure, 
and when unable to do so, the Commission proceeds through administrative 
and interpretative means, attempting to subjugate public institutions 
through executive orders and specific, sector-specific measures, leading 
to a radical shift in direction that overturns decades of constitutional 
jurisprudence. For this reason, the Commission's work is characterized 
by an extremely partisan reading of Supreme Court jurisprudence, delving 
into the specifics of individual cases and suggesting for each case a 
different interpretation and legislative or administrative approach to 
overcoming the Court's interpretation of the rules. In this way, the 
Trump administration seeks to stage an institutional-bureaucratic coup 
of epochal proportions, capable of undermining the US legal system, 
subverting the relationship between state and religion, and transforming 
the United States into a multi-faith state and society, where the role 
of religion is an essential element of government support and legitimacy.
American civil society is mobilizing against the danger posed by this 
degeneration of the order, because it's not a question of defending the 
achievements of woke culture, but the very foundations of legislation, 
the Constitution, and American separatism as a whole. Violating it means 
taking responsibility for dividing the country, engaging it in a 
religious war.
In the immediate future, the Commission's work, in addition to being 
part of the MAGA political plan to clericalize American society and 
oppose woke culture, is an instrument of Trump's intentions to combat 
what he sees as the greatest future danger. We are referring to the 
growth of the self-styled socialist movement within the US Democratic 
Party, ideally led by Bennie Sanders and Mamdani, Mayor of New York. 
When we talk about American socialism, we must be clear because it is 
American-style socialism, which does not advocate public ownership of 
the means of production but pursues the goal of establishing widespread 
forms of welfare in American society, with attention to the provision of 
public services, healthcare and public schools, aid and social support 
for the poorest: a sort of soft social democracy that, however, due to 
the absolute liberalism that characterizes the United States, is 
identified with communism, despite being characterized by populism.
This trend, which Trump is deeply concerned about due to his growing 
electoral success, is being criminalized, associating it with the 
so-called "Antifa" groups, which are believed to constitute the new form 
of left-wing terrorism. The Trump administration has called an 
international conference against this issue in Washington on July 16th. 
Sixty countries, including Italy, were invited to the conference, but it 
was poorly attended due to the theses it espoused and the dangers it 
feared. The real problem is that the ongoing polarization of political 
conflict in the United States raises concerns that even modest demands, 
typically social democratic, could undermine an increasingly acutely 
reactionary social governance.

Gianni Cimbalo

https://www.ucadi.org/2026/07/23/guerra-alla-laicita-e-al-separatismo-negli-stati-uniti/
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