When President Donald Trump returned to the White House, religious liberty became one of his administration’s defining priorities.
Within weeks of taking office, Trump created a task force to combat alleged anti-Christian bias across the federal government. Months later, the Justice Department released a report alleging the Biden administration used prosecutions, policies, and regulatory actions in ways that burdened religious Americans.
The administration has since created new governmental structures focused on religion, including a White House Faith Office and a Religious Liberty Commission tasked with examining how federal policy can better protect the free exercise of religion.
But the shift was not simply about whether religion had a place in public life. It reflected a deeper disagreement over what religious liberty actually protects.
Trump and his allies have argued that religious liberty extends beyond belief and worship to include religious conduct, defined as the ability for people to act on their faith in public life, including in workplaces, schools, businesses, and healthcare. The Biden administration generally emphasized protecting religious belief while balancing those protections with other civil rights interests, including LGBT protections and antidiscrimination laws.
Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor and adviser to the DOJ’s Religious Liberty Commission, said the administrations approached the issue from fundamentally different perspectives.
“I think the Biden administration would say religious liberty is what you can believe — that people can choose to believe what they wish,” Blackman said. “I think the Trump view is that religious liberty concerns not just belief, but also action and conduct — the ability to live your life of faith.”
Shortly after taking office in 2021, Biden reestablished the Bush-era White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, saying faith communities played a key role in addressing poverty, disaster relief, and community challenges.
“They are fellow human beings. They are fellow Americans,” then-President Joe Biden said when announcing the office. “That is why I’m reestablishing the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships to work with leaders of different faiths and backgrounds who are on the front lines of their communities.”
The office reflected Biden’s broader approach: partnering with religious organizations while emphasizing that the government must protect people of all faiths and those with no faith.
That approach, however, drew criticism from conservatives who argued the administration too often viewed religious objections as barriers to other policy goals.
Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission report highlighted several examples, including disputes over abortion, gender identity policies, religious exemptions, and federal workplace accommodations. The report argued that the Biden administration treated religious exercise as a secondary interest when it conflicted with progressive priorities.
Among the issues cited by Trump officials was the Biden DOJ’s interpretation of the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that federal workplace protections against sex discrimination include protections for LGBT employees.
Trump officials also pointed to the Biden administration’s enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or the FACE Act, arguing that prosecutions of anti-abortion activists demonstrated hostility toward religiously motivated activism. The Biden administration maintained that the law was a neutral criminal statute designed to protect access to healthcare facilities and places of worship.
The Trump DOJ reversed many Biden-era policies, arguing that federal agencies should give greater weight to religious accommodations and protections for faith-based organizations.
The DOJ’s updated religious liberty guidance states that the establishment clause and free exercise clause work together to protect religious freedom, arguing that government cannot coerce religious observance, discriminate against religious groups based on their beliefs, or interfere with the internal affairs of religious organizations.
For Trump allies, those changes represent a restoration of constitutional protections they believe were weakened under Biden.
“The Religious Liberty Commission is the first commission devoted to studying how the government can better protect the free exercise of religion,” Blackman said.
Blackman argued the Supreme Court’s recent decisions have created a more favorable environment for religious liberty claims, pointing to rulings involving religious schools, public prayer, and religious accommodations.
“Trump’s judicial appointments have been quite significant,” Blackman said. “In virtually every religious liberty case, the person of faith wins, with a couple exceptions.”
But the long-term impact of Trump’s approach will depend on how far the administration goes when religious liberty conflicts directly with other government interests, he added.