Religion stabilizes, protects freedoms in society, says Religious Liberty Commission report

Religious freedom is a stabilizing force, protects all other constitutional freedoms and “is indispensable to a flourishing society,” the Religious Liberty Commission said in a report submitted to President Donald Trump Friday.

“It’s important to understand that religious liberty matters because religion matters – because we are creatures, and we owe obligations to the Creator,” Commissioner Dr. Ryan Anderson said in his opening remarks to the Commission. “And that’s what then creates the rights amongst men, which governments are then instituted to protect.”

After seven hearings across 10 months, the Commission submitted the more than 200-page report to the White House in fulfillment of Trump’s executive order establishing the Commission in May 2025. Its work focused on areas in the public sphere that have faced significant religious discrimination in recent years, including education, health care and the military, among others.

“This has been a great thing that the president has set up to do a full deep dive into religious liberty in America and see where we have a lot of holes we got to fill,” First Liberty Executive General Counsel Hiram Sasser told The Lion. “The president has been a great leader in filling those holes and fighting for people of faith. This is a great step in that direction.”

The inherent link of religion and society

Religion produces virtuous people, facilitates families and communities and stabilizes society, the report concludes. Because of this, America’s Founders protected religious liberty as the fundamental freedom and the source of all others, the commissioners explain.

“Our Founders called this our first freedom because they understood: If you lose this freedom, you will lose all of your freedoms,” Commissioner and First Liberty President, CEO and Chief Counsel Kelly Shackelford said at a committee hearing.

“The best way I can describe why that’s true is this: The one thing a totalitarian regime will never allow is citizens who hold an allegiance to one higher than the government … And if you lose there, you will lose everything else. So, what we’re really dealing with here is the precipice of all our freedoms.”

Religion and government should strengthen each other, not oppose one another, commissioners explained in direct refutation of the commonly repeated phrase, “a wall of separation between church and state.”

This phrase appears nowhere in the Constitution. In fact, the First Amendment provides the opposite relationship: “The government may not officially prefer one religion over another, take over the functions of a church or coerce religious observance,” the report explains.

Instead of a wall, religious liberty serves as a “bridge between church and state,” or between “the City of God and the City of Man,” the report states.

“In other words, when people of faith exercise their religious liberty by living that faith – from praying to serving the poor to treating people with charity to upholding moral standards – they live more fulfilling lives, build vibrant families, bolster our communities, and ultimately, strengthen our nation,” the commissioners write. “In this way, religious liberty isn’t simply an appendage of our society. It is the beating heart of our republic and the lifeblood of America’s success.”

The report surveyed the history of religion in America and detailed modern-day testimonies of religious discrimination from the Commission’s seven hearings.

“One of the things that I was really impressed by was that they heard directly from the people,” Sasser said.

He referenced how Trump adjusted the height of the mic for a young boy who testified about his school imposing gender ideology, adding that the moment serves as “a symbol” of Trump’s stance on religious liberty. 

“He brings a personal touch to the people who he’s fighting for, and that moment encapsulated what the president’s all about and what his mission on religious liberty is all about,” Sasser said.

Specific proposals for religious protection

In the report, the commissioners offered practical recommendations to protect religious freedom, such as informing students and employees of their constitutional rights and establishing hotlines to report religious discrimination violations.

They emphasized the necessity of school choice for all families and proposed creating a Parental Rights Task Force as a joint committee of the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services. The Department of War should also improve the religious accommodation process and allow those who were denied accommodations from the COVID-19 vaccine and unethically discharged to reenlist or retire honorably, the report suggested.

For both health care and private sector workers, the commissioners recommended distributing “know your rights” posters and restoring the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division under HHS to protect religious freedom in the medical field. The Commission also heard testimony on the rise of antisemitism and recommended an investigation into many of those groups to determine whether terrorist organizations are funding them.

For now, the commissioners’ work is complete, but they serve “at the pleasure of the president,” Sasser said, so Trump could task them with additional duties regarding religious liberty. Because the Commission serves Trump, the administration is working to preserve these religious protections beyond the president’s four-year term, when political winds may change.

“Strong and courageous judges” are necessary, Sasser said, calling them “our first and last line of defense when there’s a hostile administration.”

The report comes just over a week before America’s 250th birthday on July 4, 2026, and is a “great gift to every American” for the anniversary, Shackelford said in a statement.

“But as we have seen in recent decades, religious liberty must be protected, preserved and cherished. That responsibility belongs to every generation,” the report concludes. “Our hope and prayer is that Americans will meet that responsibility with the same wisdom, courage and devotion to freedom that have sustained our nation for 250 years.”