The Trump administration has ordered State Department employees to report on any instances of coworkers displaying “anti-Christian bias” as part of its effort to implement a sweeping new executive order on supporting employees of Christian faith working in the federal government.
The department, according to a copy of an internal cable obtained by POLITICO, will work with an administration-wide task force to collect information “involving anti-religious bias during the last presidential administration” and will collect examples of anti-Christian bias through anonymous employee report forms.
The cable was sent out to embassies around the world under Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s name. The instructions also were released in a department-wide notice.
The document says the task force, which was established by the executive order, will meet around April 22 to discuss its initial findings.
The cable encourages State Department employees to report on one another through a tip form that can be anonymous. “Reports should be as detailed as possible, including names, dates, locations (e.g. post or domestic office where the incident occurred,” the cable reads.
Some State Department officials reacted to the cable with shock and alarm, saying that even if well-intentioned, it is based on the flawed premise that the department harbors anti-Christian bias to begin with, and warning it could create a culture of fear as the administration pushes employees to report on one another.
“It’s very ‘Handmaid’s Tale’-esque,” said one State Department official, who was granted anonymity because the individual was not allowed to speak openly about internal department affairs.
The department instructions say that examples of anti-Christian bias will be collected to meet the requirements of the executive order but that the department also will collect examples of anti-religious bias of all forms for its internal purposes.
“Although the E.O. focuses on anti-Christian bias, targeting anyone for their religious beliefs is discriminatory and is contrary to the Constitution” and various federal laws, the notice states.
A State Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The executive order Trump issued in February tasks all federal agencies to root out “anti-Christian bias” from the government.
The Interfaith Alliance, a left-leaning NGO on religious freedom, condemned the executive order at the time, arguing that “this effort may appear to address certain forms of stigma against Christians, particularly against Catholics. In reality, it will weaponize a narrow understanding of religious freedom to legitimize discrimination against marginalized groups like the LGBTQ community.”
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