Recently, Trump signed yet another EO establishing the White House Faith Office, and deemed Paula White-Cain as the head. Faith based offices in the White House are nothing new (at least in recent American History), but this one is different, especially due to who is in charge, and due to the wording of its purpose and agenda.
If you read my blog entry before this one, you might recall that I wrote a comment about what bothers me when someone describes something using the word “faith” in a general sense, when behind it is meant a more specific kind of faith- usually the faith of evangelical Christians. We see it used in adverts like, “faith night” or in a recent (false) comment, “the faith of the larger community” of the United States implying a specific religion, or in most recent news, “The Establishment of the White House Faith Office”. In my last blog, I had mentioned Rep. Collins’ absurd response to Bishop Budde’s message on January 21, 2025 at the Washington National Cathedral when he responded that it is “not representative of the ‘faith’ community at large”. My initial response to that was, “Whose faith?” What “faith community”? Because a blanket title of “faith” in such an assumption is exclusive in and of itself, and is why I get annoyed every time something like sports teams host a “faith night” at their venue. Whose faith? What kind of faith? Just be transparent and say what it actually is, please. (And btw- it’s always a Christian Evangelical faith night.)
As far as the newly established version of the White House Faith Office, while also similarly implying a particular kind of Christianity, I would also say that “faith” as referenced by this WHFO is not even a broad brush of Christian evangelicals. For there has been backlash from conservative evangelical leaders as well about re-appointing Paula White-Cain to this office. She is not widely supported even by Christian Evangelicals who see her heresy. It would be more accurate to say that the “faith” and “religion” this administration wants to see “bigger and better”, and that it wrongly feels is suffering from “anti-religious bias”, is the MAGA religion, and the sacrilegious movement of Christian Nationalism. Americans United described Paula White-Cain as a “‘Christian Nationalist powerbroker’ who’s spent much of her career operating in the shadows to influence public policies that discriminate against women, LGBTQ+ people and religious minorities, and the nomination of partisan judges who will support those harmful policies.” Paula White-Cain is a Prosperity Gospel proponent, but not the kind that is seeking reassurance from God, but rather the kind that pretends a business contract has been signed by God in a promise and “blessing” of grotesque material wealth.
About “The Establishment of the White House Faith Office” Trump remarked, “We want to bring religion back- stronger, bigger, better than ever before.” Whose religion? Islam? Buddhism? Sikh? Judaism? And if Christian, do they mean a particular kind of Christianity? How about Jesus following, intent on gospel living, progressive Christians? Are those Christians included in the “bring back stronger, bigger, and better”? Well, given the Trump/MAGA response to Bishop Budde’s Gospel message for mercy and compassion, which Trump vehemently rejected, obviously not. I’m quite confident a woke (like Jesus himself), religious, but skeptic, faithful, Jesus following, inclusive to all, justice seeking, but interrogating-the-powers-that-be kind of person of faith is the “anti-religious biased” kind of enemy, against-their-brand-of-religion, in which they seek to silence.
Truthfully, the rise of Christian Nationalism has been a long time in the making, and we’ve seen all the warning signs. Trump’s agenda is to usher it in, and give power to those who will help to do so. But Christian Nationalism is everything antithetical to the gospel, and to Jesus’ way. “Christian Nationalist” is actually an oxymoron. One cannot follow a God of liberation and embrace something called “Christian Nationalism”. That is an identity lodged with power and oppression, not Love of Thy Neighbor. (I would refer you to 2nd Corinthians, chapter 11.) It is idolatrous to state Christianity needs government protection. It is a sign of a weak faith to do so. Deep faith in Jesus’ way trusts in a merciful authority, eternally and perpetually present as empires rise and fall. (See Proverbs 27:24.) It is blasphemous to purport a prosperity gospel religion of which Paula White-Cain espouses, and makes Jesus into a warped image, wrapped in an American flag, and used to pretend a divine power intervenes in the world to bring about the tyranny we currently face. “God saved my life so I could save America.” -Trump. “To oppose Trump is to oppose God.” -Paula White-Cain. That’s quite an equivalence of the two! Such rhetoric equates God with Trump in an idol worship, and makes a bold, arrogant claim about God’s providence. Trump reiterated his own boastful arrogance at the National Prayer Breakfast by reminding us that he has “heard it from other leaders” that “a light shines over the world” now that he is POTUS. Many of his remarks like these are blasphemous when meshed with Christianity, including that he “likes people who make money”. Too bad Jesus doesn’t! (See Luke 12:15. See also Jeremiah 9:23, Philippians 2:3, James 4:6, 2 Peter 2:14-16, Jude 11, 1 Timothy 6:9-10 to name a few of so many verses that warn against arrogance and pridefulness.)
You might accuse me of cherry picking Bible verses. You would be accurate. But the Bible is a collection of texts reflecting a diversity of viewpoints, written over hundreds of years, and I hate to burst a myopic, comfortable, homogeneous bubble, but there is no one single worldview represented in it. There are many voices and worldviews in the Bible. Therefor the question is, which biblical worldview does one espouse? Which verses (that we all cherry pick) through our reading, through what baggage we bring to them, through our interpretations of the interpretations, reflect the Gospel and the liberating vision of Jesus? Are we also doing so with humility? This is why one of my favorite verses is Matthew 22:40, with the former two verses in context, it gives us the important directive to use the lens of Jesus’ love in all that we read and hear, including what we read in the Bible, including what we here from those in the pulpit(s) of churches and varied spaces (like the White House). Is this a message of mercy, and of life giving, spiritual abundance, or is this a message of entitlement to wealth and materialism? Is this a message of faith in the midst of uncertainty, or an assured divine intervention for one’s self, or the one on an orange pedestal if you will, while others continue to suffer and die by making the excuse of it all being “god’s (cruel) plan”? There are worldviews in the Bible that promote exclusion and worldviews that promote inclusion. Both worldviews are present within the Bible, and neither represents the biblical worldview. The more we study the Bible, the more we realize this conundrum, and it is why sound biblical study matters greatly.
Christian Nationalism uses Christian language and Bible verses to actually attack religious liberty, not support it. “Faith” as used by this administration is weaponized against religious freedom. Christian Nationalism is not Christianity. Christian Nationalism is a political and ideological stance that distorts what Christianity and religious liberty truly mean. Christian Nationalism is a false idol. Christian Nationalism is evil. Christian Nationalism is a sin. It fuses being an American with being Christian as if it is a requirement by a transactional God. Christian Nationalism and its misusage of “religious liberty” is in fact itself a threat to religious liberty. Jesus himself was crucified for denouncing the religious and political heresy in his lifetime, and Jesus would denounce today’s false claim of Christian Nationalism, too. Jesus’ message was and is to create a kin-dom of God, wherein blindness is restored, the poor receive the Good News, and the oppressed are set free, and this has always transcended government sanctions, for which Jesus never promoted his message to adhere to or be “protected” by.
While there have been other “faith” efforts, causes, and offices within previous presidencies along all political spectrums (The Faith Based and Community Initiatives-Bush, 2001; the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives-Obama, 2009, which was revitalized by Biden, etc.), all of which have had questionable constitutionality, and separation of church and state concerns, those mentioned in the previous parenthesis made clear they were establishing partnerships and help regardless of religious or political beliefs. And where warnings of proselytizing are made clear as unacceptable (much like my work as a chaplain). This new one in Trump’s 2025 administration is different, and it is dangerously different. This is evident in what has already occurred in direct violation of religious freedom by attacking and defunding government systems that serve the most vulnerable, and falsely accusing religious groups (Lutherans, Quakers, etc.) of financial misconduct. We have already seen the ways this administration and this brand of MAGA religion abuses “religious liberty” to grasp tightly to privilege and power. And by the way, USAID has been a longstanding, bipartisan (even supported by Trump in his first term) organization where the government in partnership with religious entities of various kinds has been able to do what it does- doing so much good- because of the strength in those partnerships. While every administration comes in and makes changes and adjustments, to try to completely dissolve USAID is cruel, and will have, and is already having, devastating, human harming consequences.
I could be wrong, but this newly established office in the white house looks to be about silencing and going after those who do not believe the unconstitutional idea that the U.S. is a Christian Nation, or at least that it should be, under the guise of “combatting anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and additional forms of anti-religious bias”. It flies another red flag in warning of an ongoing white supremacist attack on civil rights, and all things Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. By anti-religious bias, they likely mean voices of the woke-type, we progressive types, you know-we, among others, who believe in the mercy of Jesus. They also likely mean the atheists and agnostics (who are sometimes also religious, like me), who are deemed lost and threatening to their narrow definition of being American and “Christian”, when in reality they live lives of deep spiritual awareness, are salt of the earth philanthropists, and act in ways that reflect Jesus more so than many who call themselves Christian. Might those of us who continue to advocate for, who speak up and speak out for such Christlike mercy, and abounding ways of human flourishing, risk being silenced or punished in the near future? Time will tell. If so, I will not stop in the face of such a possibility, even as I will not be deemed the right kind of Christian in Paula White-Cain’s eyes, or like the “so-called Bishop” (Bishop Budde) whom Trump demeans as such, I would also then be a “so-called Reverend” to him.
Trump gave only one example of his version of “anti-religious” bias, when he announced the new office, by giving a revisionist historical account of those he pardoned who were illegally blocking an entrance to an abortion clinic and stealing fetal tissue, by saying they were simply “praying”… We have been warned about the Paula White-Cain, JD Vance (who is Catholic; a specific kind of Catholic), and Trump types who misuse the Bible (and/or likely haven’t read it much, if at all); the kind of leadership that might sound like something Christlike, but truly fails to act as such. (See Matthew 7:15.) Its endeavor to endorse religious liberty only intends to do so for a particular brand of religious-types. That is not what religious liberty means. It is the “freedom to believe and exercise upon religious conscience without unnecessary interference by the government. Just as religious liberty involves the freedom to practice religion, it also means freedom not to practice religion.” And as a Baptist myself, religious freedom is an affirmation of freedom of, for, and from religion, and as we Baptists believe strongly in the separation of church and state. It is the freedom to practice any religion, and the freedom to not practice any religion, and our responsibility to protect either one for ourselves and our fellow country-persons. It is to acknowledge the vastly different religions and beliefs in our nation and world, and to strive to live peaceably together. In the same way Paula White-Cain will exploit Christianity for power and money, in the same way that January 6 insurrectionists carried crosses and signs that said, “Jesus Saves” while being violent, and in the same way this party in power seeks to establish their religion as the persecuted one, and the right one, their god is a god of pettiness and power, not a God of love and liberation. But, as uncomfortable as it might make some of us, the love of God is a love that embraces all of us. Even so, we must see the reality that this administration’s use of “anti-Christian bias” is actually a projection- it is their bias, and their power-play being wielded as a weapon against healthy, merciful faith groups and faith leaders of all kinds, and using it to attack those who are doing Good work in the world.
It is never easy for the powerful to hear admonitions for mercy.
There is much to process during these trying times. But we must speak out against the rise of Christian Nationalism/Trumpism threatening religious freedom for all, as well as how it is presenting a perilous threat to what is a constitutional guarantee of a healthy neutrality in order for us to thrive together peaceably in faith in this country. Whose Faith? Yours. Theirs. Mine. All of them, religious, spiritual, philosophical, secular… We the People. We the multi-faithful…
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For more information:
EDIT: This lawsuit was filed on 2/11. Thanks to Diana Butler Bass who brought this to my attention this morning. Adding it to the resources. Thank goodness for lawyers who understand and uphold the law, and for faith groups coming together in this way. Please alert your own faith groups, and please call your representatives to support this effort: https://www.law.georgetown.edu/icap/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2025/02/Mennonite-Church-USA-v.-U.S.-Department-of-Homeland-Security-Complaint.pdf
The Baptist Joint Committee advocating for Religious Liberty in its true definition:
The important work of Christians against Christian Nationalism:
https://www.christiansagainstchristiannationalism.org
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