By Matthew Holloway |

In an Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump on Thursday, newly confirmed Attorney General Pam Bondi has been handed a mandate to chair a new Justice Department Task Force to eradicate anti-Christian bias.

According to the White House, the task force is to include Bondi’s fellow cabinet members in addition to ”the heads of such other executive departments, agencies, and offices that the Chair may, from time to time, invite to participate.”

In the text of the order, the President cited the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against government interference with the free exercise of religion and the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s protections against religious discrimination. He declared, “The previous Administration engaged in an egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses.”

Trump added that, “The Biden Department of Justice sought to squelch faith in the public square by bringing Federal criminal charges and obtaining in numerous cases multi-year prison sentences against nearly two dozen peaceful pro-life Christians for praying and demonstrating outside abortion facilities.” He also referred to the arrest and prosecution of “a Catholic priest and 75-year-old grandmother, as well as an 87-year-old woman and a father,” for praying and singing hymns outside an abortion facility in protest, as well as an FBI memorandum that claimed “radical-traditionalist” Catholics were domestic-terrorism threats.

Trump also pointed to attacks against Christian churches and organizations noting, “At the same time, Catholic churches, charities, and pro-life centers sought justice for violence, theft, and arson perpetrated against them, which the Biden Department of Justice largely ignored. After more than 100 attacks, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning this violence and calling on the Biden Administration to enforce the law.”

Trump also laid “hostility and vandalism against Christian churches and places of worship,” at the feet of the Biden Administration noting “the number of such identified acts in 2023 exceeding by more than eight times the number from 2018.”

He also highlighted Biden’s Department of Education seeking to repeal religious liberty protections for faith-based organizations on university campuses and attempting to compel “Christians to affirm radical transgender ideology,” contrary to their beliefs via the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and drive them out of the foster-care system. Finally he pointed to the highly controversial declaration of a “Transgender Day of Visibility,” on Easter Sunday 2024, by the Biden Administration which drew widespread scorn.

In the text of the order, the President concluded, “My Administration will not tolerate anti-Christian weaponization of government or unlawful conduct targeting Christians. The law protects the freedom of Americans and groups of Americans to practice their faith in peace, and my Administration will enforce the law and protect these freedoms. My Administration will ensure that any unlawful and improper conduct, policies, or practices that target Christians are identified, terminated, and rectified.”

In a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Trump told the gathered press that the task force’s mission is to “immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination in the federal government.”

“In addition, the task force will work to fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society, and to move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide,” he continued.

Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.