Protecting religious liberty in 2025 requires all of us to work together
This week — like most of you — I’m focused on the holiday season of giving, on family and friends, and on the spirit of Christmas. At the same time, I’ve got one eye on the storms that may be coming our way in 2025.
If the first Trump term was any indication, the next four years will require vigilance when it comes to protecting religious liberty for all. I posted earlier this year about the troubling church-state proposals found in Project 2025, the conservative blueprint for the next administration.
Among other things, Project 2025 would dissolve the Department of Education and institute universal school voucher programs, and it would remove safeguards that protect against the religious use of taxpayer funds by religious organizations receiving government grants. Here’s what I wrote back in July:
Project 2025 envisions an executive branch that recognizes no line of institutional separation between church and state, let alone a wall. At the same time, federal agencies under this plan see virtually no limit to religious exercise. Public school teachers could disregard the well-being of their students, health care workers could deny requests of their patients, adoption agencies could set aside the needs of foster children — all if those are done in the name of Free Exercise.
And that’s to say nothing of the dangers posed to religious liberty at the state level by emboldened state officials and legislatures, like we have already seen in Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas this year.
There are two ways to respond to what’s facing us, according to BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler. We can embrace a defeatist attitude or, as she wrote in her recent column, there is a different path:
Another is a position of hopeful resilience, aware of what is at stake with a renewed commitment to being involved in direct democracy to help protect those in our communities who are most vulnerable to discrimination, exclusion and harm. …
The response we need in this moment of crisis for many of our neighbors and our country is a recommitment to involvement in our democracy by every person.
These proposals can be opposed — in your local community; in the courts; in legislatures, school boards, and city councils; and in Congress. It will take all of us who believe in religious liberty for all working together, sharing information, taking action, and keeping our broader communities informed. I’m proud that BJC will be a leading partner in that effort in 2025 and beyond as they continue to mobilize grassroots efforts, advocate in branches of government, and educate congregations and communities.
As 2025 approaches, get connected by following BJC on social media (on Instagram, Facebook, X, and now BlueSky), sign up for email alerts so you can be notified of things happening in your area, access the resources of BJC’s Christians Against Christian Nationalism campaign, subscribe to BJC’s Respecting Religion podcast, and, if you can, pitch in with a donation to support this critical work. (All donations to BJC are tax-deductible)
It will take all of us working together to protect religious liberty — not just for some, but for all. Wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy new year — see you in January!
