Crusade Against “Anti-Christian Bias” is Donald’s DEI

Report on your colleagues, State Department says

The Trump administration on Friday instructed U.S. diplomats to report on any examples of “anti-Christian bias” that they encounter in the workplace, particularly any examples they experienced during Joe Biden’s term.

An internal State Department directive we obtained, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, encourages Department employees to file detailed reports — anonymously if necessary — naming any colleagues responsible. (I’ve included a copy of the cable at the bottom of this post.) The directive was precipitated by Trump’s February 6 executive order, “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias.”

Despite the creepy overtones, I can’t help but laugh. This is DEI! Instead of the administration’s signature informal tone, the memo reads like an army of HR lawyers sanitized the White House’s angry framing and the president’s focus on Christianity into an unimplementable tangle of rules and regulations.

It advises employees to “refer ongoing discrimination to Department leadership,” to report “allegations of harassment to the Anti-Harassment Program,” and so on.

The directive is intended to collect evidence for a task force established by Trump’s executive order. But it reads more like a public service announcement about how all religious discrimination is illegal. 

Per the cable:

“Although the E.O. focuses on anti-Christian bias, targeting anyone for their religious beliefs is discriminatory and is contrary to the Constitution, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (as amended), the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and other federal laws.”

This is parody of the corporate DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) stuff Trump is constantly railing against. It is also a far cry from Rubio’s declaration last month that “DEI is gone, forever.” 

Oh how the mighty have fallen, to quote the good book.

Politico wrote this morning, paraphrasing the directive (a complete copy of which I publish exclusively below), that one official describes the cable as “very ‘Handmaid’s Tale’-esque,” referring to the Margaret Atwood novel about America descending into theocratic dystopia.

I think it’s more Office Space than Handmaid’s Tale. 

“Religious accommodation,” “exclusion,” “bias” — the cable ends up being a glossary of DEI and HR terminology. 

The State Department took Trump’s anti-DEI, anti-anti-Semitism, and pro-Christian ideas, handed it over to legal, and ended up with a hilarious stew of bureaucratese. For the life of me, I can’t imagine who the pro-Christian crusaders are supposed to report on — Jews? Muslims? Budhists? Atheists? — given the impenetrable language of the order.

All of this reminds me of an exchange I once had with political commentator Candace Owens, a staunch critic of political correctness. That is, until I pranked congressman Matt Gaetz into retweeting a photo of Lee Harvey Oswald in his marine uniform on Veterans Day, the congressman unaware of who he was promoting in his unthinking, robotic salute. 

“You are making a mockery of a day that is meant to memorialize men that died,” Owens said in a statement condemning me and calling me “deranged.” 

The real mockery, in my view, is politicians performatively reposting any veteran content they can find to conceal how little they actually care — the point of my practical joke. But anyway.

I replied, “Would not have guessed you cared so much about being politically correct.”

What she said next I think about often.

“It is not ‘political correctness’ to have a soul and a modicum of decency,” Owens replied.

I guess one man’s political correctness is another’s modicum of decency.

This isn’t the inquisition or the beginning of some totalitarian theocracy. It is just a ridiculous, muddled, and laughable piece of government sausage, hoping to both implement and thwart Donald Trump’s stream-of-consciousness directives at the same time. In that regard, it is brilliant.

Office of Origin: S/OCR

Category: Bureau Announcements

Date of Announcement: April 11, 2025

Implementing the President’s E.O. on Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias in the Department of State

This is an action request. Please see below.

Summary:

As required by President Trump’s E.O. 14202 on Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias, the Department is seeking submissions from U.S. Direct Hire (USDH) employees and contractors to the Office of Civil Rights (S/OCR) via a dedicated reporting form by April 18, 2025: 1) Information regarding any Department or individual practices involving anti-religious bias during the last presidential administration (2021–2025); and 2) Recommendations to the Secretary of State to remedy any anti-religious bias at the Department. Employees may report anonymously. Submissions will be collated to inform Department leadership of religious-bias issues and to contribute to the Interagency Report due 120 days from the date of the publication of the executive order (June 6, 2025) as mandated in sec. 3(b)(i) of E.O. 14202. The Task Force will meet to discuss preliminary findings on/around April 22, 2025. End Summary.

Background:

On February 6, 2025, President Trump signed E.O. 14202, which seeks to “protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the anti-Christian weaponization of government.” The E.O. established a Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, charged with reviewing the activities of all executive departments and agencies, including the Department of State, to identify any unlawful policies, practices, or conduct contrary to the purpose and policy of the E.O. The Task Force will collect information and ideas from individuals and groups, including Department employees, affected by anti-Christian bias or other religious discriminatory conduct. These reports will inform recommendations on the revocation or termination of any violative policies, practices, or conduct to the relevant agencies.

Although the E.O. focuses on anti-Christian bias, targeting anyone for their religious beliefs is discriminatory and is contrary to the Constitution, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (as amended), the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and other federal laws.

Examples:

In accordance with sec. 3(a)(i) of the E.O. and Department policy, the Task Force is soliciting examples of anti-religious bias, and in particular, examples from the past four years, where the Department targeted anyone for their religion, including discrimination, harassment, exclusion, disciplinary action, adverse security clearance determinations, or any other adverse action, or in retaliation for exercising their religious rights. This includes anti-religious bias committed by Department employees, in their official duties, against members of the public. Examples of anti-Christian bias will be collated specifically to inform the preliminary findings due on April 22, 2025, and the Interagency Report, due on June 6, 2025, 120 days from the date of the publication of the order as mandated in sec. 3(b)(i) of E.O. 14202. Examples appropriate for submission include, but are not limited to:

• Mistreatment for expressing one’s sincerely held religious beliefs in the workplace;

• Mistreatment while or for requesting religious accommodation, including religious accommodation from taking mandatory vaccines or observing religious holidays;

• Mistreatment for refusing to participate in events or activities that promoted themes inconsistent with or hostile to one’s religious beliefs, including policies or practices related to preferred personal pronouns;

• Imposing some form of adverse action (whether formal or informal), up to and including removal from employment, because of that person’s religious beliefs or religious expression;

• Mistreatment for opposing displays of flags, banners, or other paraphernalia on or in government facilities because of a religious objection or for opposing official media content due to religious objections;

• Forcing employees to remove personal displays of religious faith or conscience, whether as part of clothing/accessories, items on desks, or in personal workspaces, etc.;

• Refusing to provide to someone (including a member of the public) a service, a benefit given to others, or an entitlement because of that person’s faith, religious beliefs, or expression of those beliefs;

• Any other Department action contrary to the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution, 3 FAM 1526 (religious harassment), 3 FAM 1530 (religious accommodation), the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Clinton Guidance on Religious Exercise and Expression in the Workplace, the Sessions Guidance on Religious Liberty Protections in Federal Law, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Groff v. DeJoy, and/or any other relevant provision of law; or

• Retaliation for exercising legal rights as related to religious discrimination, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.

Recommendations:

In accordance with E.O. 14202 and Department policy, the Task Force is also seeking policy recommendations to remedy anti-religious bias. Recommendations specific to combating anti-Christian bias will be collated to inform the Interagency Report due on June 6, 2025, 120 days from the date of the publication of the order mandated in E.O. sec. 3(b)(i), but the Department seeks examples of all forms of anti-religious prejudice for its own internal reform purposes. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Recommendations to terminate any violative policies and practices that further anti-religious bias (E.O. sec. 3(a)(ii));

• Information to develop strategies to protect the religious liberties of Americans and advance the purpose and policy of E.O. 14202 (sec. 3(a)(iii));

• Information to identify deficiencies in existing laws, enforcement, and regulatory practices that have contributed to unlawful anti-religious governmental or private conduct (sec. 3(a)(iv)); and

• Other recommendations to the Secretary of State for appropriate actions to remedy failures to enforce fully the laws against acts of anti-religious hostility and vandalism (sec. 3(a)(v)).

ACTION REQUEST:

USDH employees and contractors are encouraged to report any examples or recommendations described in the “examples” and “recommendations” paragraphs above to S/OCR via a dedicated reporting form. Reports should be as detailed as possible, including names, dates, locations (e.g., post or domestic office where the incident occurred), any available citations to policies/programs involved, and a summary of the conduct, policy, or recommendation. Employees may submit examples or recommendations anonymously; however, they are encouraged to include contact information for further follow-up. Some examples will be chosen to share with the Task Force at the initial meeting on/around April 22, 2025; reporting employees should indicate whether they would be interested in personally sharing their stories with the Interagency Task Force. S/OCR will:

• Review all submissions to ensure relevance to E.O. 14202;

• Remove any PII (other than names of individuals seeking to share with the Task Force personally);

• Refer ongoing discrimination to Department leadership for action;

• Refer allegations of harassment to the Anti-Harassment Program (AHP), also within S/OCR; and

• Collate examples for review by the Secretary’s Task Force designee.

The Task Force will meet on/around April 22, 2025; therefore, all submissions must be received by April 18, 2025.

Employees may submit multiple reports.

END ACTION REQUEST.

— Edited by William M. Arkin