Fact check: Did Biden team weaponize government against Christians?
Trump signs order aiming ‘to protect the religious freedoms of Americans ’
President Donald Trump’s much-publicized executive order last week to end “anti-Christian weaponization of government” is based on the premise that the Joe Biden administration targeted Christians for prosecution and helped create an “atmosphere of anti-Christian government, hostility and vandalism against Christian churches and places of worship.”
The executive order, which created the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, said that action was needed “to protect the religious freedoms of Americans” and to ensure that people are “free to practice their faith without fear of discrimination or retaliation by their government.”
Trump also signed a separate order establishing the White House Faith Office, which replaces Biden’s White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. It will be headed by Paula White-Cain, a well-known pastor, TV personality and author who has long been a spiritual adviser to the president.
In citing the need for his actions, Trump cited numerous examples of what he called anti-Christian bias from his predecessor’s administration. He claimed Biden‘s Department of Justice “sought to squelch faith in the public square,” “engaged in an egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians” by sending anti-abortion protesters to prison, “largely ignored” an increase in vandalism against churches, declared Easter Sunday of 2024 as the Transgender Day of Visibility, sought to reduce religious protections for college students, and “sought to drive Christians who do not conform to certain beliefs on sexual orientation and gender identity out of the foster-care system.”
This all raises the question: Did the Biden team weaponize the government against Christians?
Truth verdict: ❌
Although the Biden administration supported policies that differed sharply from the views of many, perhaps most, conservative Christians, Trump offered no evidence, and there appears to be none, that Biden specifically targeted Christians. All the evidence indicates that the anti-abortion protesters jailed by the Biden administration were prosecuted because of their behavior — behavior that not all Christians would agree with — and not because of their religion.
Also, the evidence that anti-Christian vandalism increased during the Biden years is mixed, and the Biden administration did take action to deal with the problem. Whether that action was sufficient is a political question, but there is no evidence that the supposed lack of action was based on animus toward Christians. Biden himself has been a lifelong Christian, as were many top officials in his administration.
Allegations vs. reality
Here’s a quick look at Trump’s specific allegations and how they relate to the targeting of Christians:
🟪 The number of anti-abortion activists who were prosecuted indeed is significant. In his first week in office, Trump pardoned 23 what he called “peaceful pro-life protesters,” many of them involved in the forceful blockade of Washington, D.C., abortion clinic in October 2020. Most were found guilty of violating the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which makes it a crime to threaten, obstruct or injure someone trying to access a reproductive health clinic or to cause damage to such a facility. None of the charges filed against the demonstrators were for being Christian.
🟪 The Biden administration sought to implement a rule that would have prohibited officially recognized clubs, which receive certain privileges such as access to school facilities, on college campuses from discriminating on the basis of religion in their leadership. Although the rule was never implemented, it would have applied to clubs wanting to limit their leadership to any particular religion, not just Christianity.
🟪 Trump pointed to a study by the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group, that indicated that there was a huge jump in vandalism and violent incidents at churches during the Biden administration. It does indeed appear that there was a spike in anti-church activities after the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision that reversed Roe v. Wade. The existence of significant hostile actions toward churches was confirmed by a separate report of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which focused specifically on attacks against Catholic churches. While that report did showed a spike during the Biden administration, it also found that the total of attacks beginning in May 2020 (when tallies were first reported) through the end of that year, Trump’s last year in office, were slightly higher than the attacks from May to December 2024, Biden’s last year.
In any case, the Biden administration recognized that hostile actions against churches were a problem, and so it created the Protecting Places of Worship Interagency Policy Committee. The committee coordinated efforts to protect places of worship. The Biden administration also re-established a Faith-Based Security Advisory Council to advise the Department of Homeland Security, and it expanded a program to issue security-related grants to nonprofit organizations including houses of worship.
🟪 It is true that last year’s Easter coincided with the Transgender Day of Visibility. Biden declared that day for March 31 of every year, and last year Easter, whose day varies from year to year, was on that day. So the shared day appeared to be coincidental rather than deliberate.
🟪 While it is true that the Biden administration sought to enforce its policies regarding sexual orientation and gender identity on the foster care system, there is no evidence that only Christian foster parents were expected to comply with the regulations.