In God We Trust? How Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias Violates Free Speech

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution was ratified on December 15th, 1791. It is commonly recognized as the protection of one’s freedom of speech, religion, and petition to the government. Yet today, beginning on February 6th, 2025, the United States First Amendment is being inadvertently violated due to the controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s executive order “Eradicating the Christian Bias” which provides preferential treatment to one religious group.
According to the White house.org, the Trump administration will enforce this law and will not “tolerate anti-Christian” weaponization of the government or misconduct targeting Christian individuals. By doing so, Donald Trump will establish a task force to eradicate the Anti-Christian Bias executive order within the Department of Justice. The task force will review activities from all executive departments and agencies; the Department of State, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, The Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Services, the Department of Education, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and identify any “unlawful” anti-christian practices. These policies are contrary to the executive order.
The executive action includes altering the school’s public education curriculum. On November 14, 2024, Superintendent Walters announced that with the bible driven out of public education students are receiving a lack of understanding of “American History”. In actuality what would this mean? Who will it affect? The executive order could disproportionately affect non-Christian individuals who practice Judaism, Islam, others, and atheism. By favoring Christianity in public institutions, these groups may feel discriminated against and having integrated religious teaching into their education system in a way that favors one faith and excludes others could potentially inadvertently violate the First Amendment Right to freedom of religion, without government interference. The U.S. Constitution was designed to protect individuals freedom, including the right to prevent the government from endorsing a particular religion and to protect individuals from religious discrimination.
America prides itself on being a melting pot of diverse cultures and religions. When the government takes action that supports one religion it can and will create a division and may lead to religious intolerance and allow religious biases to shape our educational content. This issue is critical to address because it brings into question the role of the government in promoting religious practices and it directly challenges the protection of individuals’ religious freedom. The outcome of the executive order could have far-reaching consequences that will affect society for the interpretation of religious freedom in America.
Together in Mission High School, we can continue to celebrate and elevate the diversity of our school’s community by hosting and supporting these student-led events that celebrate Mission High School’s community of diverse cultural traditions such as festivals, food sales, performances, and holidays. These events at Mission High School allow students to learn about different cultures, ethnicities, and religions all while creating a more inclusive learning environment. United, we can defeat this bigotry of religiocentrism in our communities.