U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner leads a prayer as U.S. President Donald Trump hosts his first cabinet meeting with Elon Musk in attendance, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 26, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was founded after the Wall Street Crisis and mortgage collapse that happened in 2007 and 2008, with the specific purpose of having a government agency that would regulate the financial industry for customers, not prioritize profits. But the top conversation wasn't the affordability crisis. It was prayer.
The president now welcomed prayers at the start of every government meeting. Federal employees are also encouraged to spend an hour each week in prayer while at work, CNN reported Sunday.
While Trump may not be focused on it, his allies are plotting to remake America in the image of a kind of Christian version of Sharia Law.
"By thissummer, the group — Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission — is expected to produce a blueprint for policy changes that could redefinethe boundaries between government and religion in American life," wrote CNN.
Trump told the commission that they must bring religion back to America. The group is focusing on ways to sue state and local governments that they say block "religious freedom." They'll try to block public funding of K-12 schools, they say, that are hostile to faith.
They're also watching for ways to bring cases before the Supreme Court that could give them an opportunity to remake the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, which bars the government from endorsing a national religion.
“We are in a religious and cultural war right now, and every single one of us is a combatant,” said TV "psychologist" Dr. Phil McGraw during a September meeting. “Nobody can afford to sit on the sidelines.”
The White House continues to berate devout Catholic President Joe Biden, claiming that he "weaponized" the federal government against the church.
While the Trump commission has some Jewish and Muslim leaders on it, the panel is dominated by far-right Christianity.
It wasn't until last week that the commission broke into the popular zeitgeist, when commissioner and "former beauty pageant contestant Carrie Prejean Boller, challenged Jewish speakers about their beliefs and Israel’s war against Hamas."
She's one of many on the commission eager to talk about the "satanic" forces coming from other religions they deem incorrect.
The commission, housed in the Justice Department, issues only nonbinding recommendations, but its influence is already evident. The Education Department recently warned schools they could lose funding if they block students or staff from praying, mirroring a proposal floated at a commission hearing, and the Pentagon moved to reinstate faith into the U.S. military after commissioners pushed for more power for chaplains and a return of prayer.
Commission member Kelly Shackelford claimed the group is finding “problems” with religious freedom across schools, government, the private sector, health care, and the military.
It's all part of a wider Trump‑era shift to faith‑based units across federal agencies that have been repurposed from mainly coordinating with religious charities to actively promoting far-right Christianity.