The White House released a list of “Top 250 Victories For People of Faith” on September 17, listing achievements it attributes to the Trump administration on issues including religious freedom and conscience rights.
“Since taking office, President Donald J. Trump has made history again and again for the faith community,” said the White House on September 17. “Since the founding of our nation, nobody has fought harder or gained more for believers, reversing the catastrophic policies of the previous administration while building on the winning legacy of his first term.”
Last year, the White House issued a list of the “Top 100 Victories for People of Faith”; this year, the list was expanded to 250 in honour of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
Among the listed “victories” are actions by the Department of Health and Human Services creating a “Conscience and Religious Freedom Division” that works to “defend religious liberty and enforce conscience protections in healthcare”.
Further, “The Trump Administration strengthened conscience protections for healthcare providers who object to abortion, sterilisation or assisted suicide,” said the list.
The Department of Health and Human Services also “formally rescinded a Biden-era rule that forced foster parents to choose between their religious beliefs and fostering children,” said the White House.
The work of the Department of Justice’s “Weaponization Working Group” was highlighted in the list as well. The group was created to “investigate the weaponization of the federal government under the Biden Administration, including against traditional Catholics and parents expressing concerns at local school board meetings”.
At the end of August, the Weaponization Working Group released a report detailing how the FBI investigated and conducted surveillance of priests and “non-mainstream” Catholics. Those who were responsible for the surveillance have now left the department, according to the Justice Department.
Additionally, the Department of Justice filed suit against the state of New York for requiring Catholic nuns to house male hospice patients with female hospice patients, and filed briefs at the Supreme Court in favour of tax exemptions for religious groups, faith-based charter schools and for a Catholic preschool to have the right to be included in a benefit programme with secular preschools.
On the topic of international religious freedom, the White House noted that President Trump had designated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” when it comes to religious freedom, due to the “recent killing of thousands of Christians in the country”.
The list also discussed the Trump administration’s various policy positions on issues involving transgender people, transgender surgeries for minors, parental rights and abortion, noting that the president reinstated both the Hyde Amendment and the Mexico City Policy.
