Trump’s religious liberty commission seeks to dismantle secular governance, amplifying theocratic ambitions under corporate-funded Christian nationalism
Original framing: “Rejecting church and state separation is on the wish list for Trump's religious liberty commission - AP News” — AP News (via Google News)
LGBTQ+ communities, religious minorities, and secular humanists face direct threats under theocratic governance, with policies like 'religious freedom' laws used to justify discrimination. Black and Indigenous activists have long warned about the intersection of Christian nationalism and white supremacy, as seen in the Jan. 6 insurrection’s Christian imagery. The commission’s silence on these groups reveals its exclusionary intent.
The commission’s agenda is not an isolated legal maneuver but a node in a transnational network of theocratic movements, funded by corporate elites and enabled by legacy media’s myopic framing.
Historical precedents—from the Puritan theocracy to India’s Hindu nationalism—show how religious identity is weaponized to dismantle secular institutions, often with violent consequences for minorities. The marginalized voices most at risk (LGBTQ+ communities, religious minorities, secularists) are systematically excluded from the narrative, while the commission’s 'liberty' rhetoric obscures its authoritarian core. Indigenous traditions and Global South secular models offer alternative frameworks, but these are erased in favor of a U.S.-centric, corporate-funded theocracy. The solution lies in dismantling this network through constitutional reform, corporate accountability, and interfaith alliances—each grounded in the lived experiences of those most threatened by theocratic rule. The stakes are clear: either secular governance is defended as a global norm, or theocratic majoritarianism becomes the new normal.