Trump Commission Rejects Church-State Separation

Members of President Donald Trump's Religious Liberty Commission outlined expansive recommendations for religious freedoms during an April meeting in Washington, including calls to reject the concept of separation of church and state and to award a Presidential Medal of Freedom to a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

The advisory panel, formed last year and chaired by Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, is preparing a final report that commissioners hope will incorporate their proposals. Suggestions included Department of Justice interventions to support Amish parents challenging New York vaccine requirements for schoolchildren and Catholic nuns opposing the state's mandate to accommodate patients' gender identities in hospice care. Patrick proposed a federal hotline with an automated message stating, "There is no separation of church and state." He called the idea a lie during the meeting and suggested producing a million bumper stickers with the phrase. No commissioners present objected.

Other ideas focused on broadening religious expression, such as prayer and Ten Commandments displays in public schools, notices in schools and workplaces about...