According to a cable obtained by multiple news agencies, including the Guardian and Politico, members of the U.S. State Department have been ordered to anonymously report on their colleagues for instances of “anti-Christian bias” that took place during the Biden administration. The directive, which is being carried out as part of President Trump’s executive order from February 6th, “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias,” asks for department employees to turn in “names, dates, locations” for these incidents within less than a week.
The findings will then be discussed at a meeting of the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Violence, authorized by the executive order and consisting of many of the Trump administration’s top personnel, including 10 cabinet secretaries.
At long last, the government is taking bold action to protect one of America’s most endangered groups: Christians. Frankly, it’s about time.
The Harry S Truman Building in Washington, D.C., headquarters of the U.S. State Department [AgnosticPreachersKid, Wikimedia Commons, CC 3.0]
Christianity is a persecuted minority in this country, as we all know; only 63% of Americans follow a form of Christianity, a tiny percentage of the overall populace. That means there are only 221 million Christians in the USA. It’s nearly impossible to meet one and know their values.
It’s even more unlikely that such a despised group of people could garner the votes to participate in public life, much less elect politicians who would share their faith and seek to enact legislation in line with their values. Given all the hardship that Christians face in American society, the least we can do is ensure that they face no retribution simply because of their faith.
Consider some of the horrors the diplomatic cable references as potential forms of anti-Christian bias. As the Guardian reports:
One example of the “bias” the department wants reported includes “mistreatment for opposing displays of flags, banners or other paraphernalia” – a thinly veiled reference to Pride flags displayed at US embassies under the previous administration. The cable also specifically points to “policies related to preferred personal pronouns” as potentially discriminatory against religious employees.
I assure you, reader, that these are true things that Christians have been forced to endure: they have been made to walk past Pride flags being flown at embassies, the sigil of their hatred oppressors, the queer community, who, at 9.3% of the U.S. population, constitute an unassailable majority whose well-documented hostility to Christians threatens these poor souls every day of their lives. Even worse, the queer community and its collaborators have forced their debased cultural practices, such as “including one’s pronouns in email signatures,” into common practice, despite pronouns being one of the main issues that Jesus inveighed against throughout the gospels.
The mind shudders to think what other perils this tiny, helpless sect may have faced over the course of Biden’s reign of terror. It’s possible a Christian was made to sit next to a colleague wearing a hijab. A Christian may have been tangentially aware that someone else in the department chose to have an abortion. Worst of all, a Christian may have been forced to make a departmental Instagram post on March 31st of last year commemorating Transgender Day of Visibility – a sinister plot to eradicate the Christian celebration of Easter by the nation’s transgender puppet-masters, who picked the date in 2009 knowing that in a mere 15 years it would coincide with the Christian holy day.
But again, what can such an oppressed and isolated group of people do against the overwhelming power of the 0.5% of adult Americans who identify as transgender? Until now, the Christians have had to suffer in silence. Now, thanks to the Trump administration, they can complain anonymously.
A source within the State Department has described the situation as “very Handmaid’s Tale-esque,” a reference to Margaret Atwood’s novel and its television adaptation. To me, this seems like a ridiculous comparison – The Handmaid’s Tale is a fanciful bit of science fiction in which Christian men rule over the future United States and force women and queer people to submit to their sexual politics, and it’s laughable to think such a thing could ever happen in reality.
No, this is merely a straightforward attempt by the Trump administration to rectify a long history of shameful persecution against the poor Christians of America, particularly those chosen to work in a department that is supposed to advocate around the world for the interests of all American citizens.
Yes, that population includes homosexual and transgender people, and even people of other religions, like we Pagans. But does that population not also include the fundamentalist wing of Christians who think that queer people and heathens shouldn’t be allowed to exist? Who is going to advocate for their rights?
Who is going to stand up for Christianity in America?
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio
And if you’re concerned that somehow this is going to turn into favoritism toward Christians at the expense of the rest of us, well, don’t be. As Secretary of State Marco Rubio says in 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.” Nobody in the Republican Party would even think of defying the Constitution – there’s nothing to worry about.
So rest easy. They’re looking out for us – for all of us. After all, who could imagine a world where laws designed to protect the rights of religious minorities instead are used by the majority to destroy them?
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