WATCH: Trump receives report from the Religious Freedom Committee in the Oval Office

A new report from a Trump administration commission suggests replacing the idea of ​​separating church and state with the idea of ​​building bridges between them. The assertion — which challenges a long-standing concept in American law — comes amid a set of recommendations in a draft report of the Religious Liberty Commission, which was released Friday afternoon.

Watch the Religious Liberty Commission’s report presentation in the video player above.

President Donald Trump created the advisory body last year and has been filled almost entirely by conservative Christians. The 224-page draft report – part policy document, part philosophical argument – reflects members’ support for a stronger role for religion and religious expression in government, schools and the public arena.

He watches: Trump speaks at the Faith and Freedom Alliance Policy Conference

The report applauds recent Supreme Court decisions that expand rights to religious expression in public, such as creating the option to opt out of religious objections to school lessons.

The report recommends repealing the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits the political activities of tax-exempt religious groups — a long-term goal of Trump. It calls for compensation for military service members who were discharged because they refused COVID-19 vaccines.

It generally calls for allowing more religious expression in the public sphere, increased access to public funds for religious agencies and broader exemptions for those who claim conscientious objection to policies ranging from vaccine mandates and use of pronouns to classroom lessons.

It recommends that federal agencies post “Know Your Rights” posters in various locations and establish hotlines to receive complaints about religious freedom violations.

The draft report also calls for the creation of new awards — the Presidential Religious Freedom Medal and the first Freedom Hero Awards. It calls for exhibits and markers to be erected at historical sites honoring the role of religion in American history.

The draft report is now available for public comment within the next 15 days. It is sure to attract opposition.

Some other groups advocate separation of church and state

A coalition of groups — including one that sued over the committee’s lack of ideological diversity, as required of federal advisory committees — issued a pre-emptive report earlier in June defending the concept of separation of church and state.

“Religious freedom belongs to all people, not to any tradition, political party, or administration,” the report published by the Center for American Progress and others said.

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Critics of the Religious Liberty Commission’s work say its view leans toward the view favored by Trump and his supporters, and that it has heard almost entirely from like-minded scholars and activists. They say the commission has failed to adequately address issues such as anti-Muslim efforts in Texas and elsewhere, as well as the rise of anti-Semitism on the right, not just the left.

The report comes as conservative states like Texas have worked to integrate more religion into public spaces such as classrooms, including Bible studies and Ten Commandments displays.

Trump, speaking to supporters at a Faith and Freedom Alliance rally in Washington on Friday, praised the newly released report.

He boasted: “We saved religion, which was in decline.”

Trump confirmed that the administration of his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, had implemented a “reign of persecution.”

Although the commission’s report downplays the separation of church and state, the commission did not go so far as to call it a “lie,” as the commission’s chairman, Texas Governor Dan Patrick, did in April.

But it has largely taken the position that the idea has been misapplied.

“To be clear, this does not include or require a call for ‘theocracy’ or even the complete abolition of any separation of church and state,” the report says. Rather, it calls for respect for “the tension between the relevant provisions of the First Amendment” which guarantee religious freedom but prohibit any government-established church.

Supreme Court rulings on church/state issues have evolved

The phrase “wall of separation between church and state” does not appear in the Constitution, but is embodied in Supreme Court precedent. Thomas Jefferson used this expression in a letter to Baptists, supporting them in opposition to established churches in the United States, a practice that soon ended.

Supreme Court decisions in the 20th century have invoked the phrase “secession” to extend the First Amendment’s prohibition on establishing a federal church to state and local governments, citing the Fourteenth Amendment’s prohibition on states denying the rights of citizens.

This led to a ban on formal prayers and the display of the Ten Commandments in public schools. The Supreme Court in recent years has taken a different tack, allowing things like on-field prayer for a public school coach and religious opt-outs for parents who object to a lesson on transgender issues.

The draft report confirms that even Jefferson did not believe in completely excluding religion from public life, but rather believed in keeping church and state in some kind of balance.

“In effect, church and state reinforce and support each other,” the letter states.

The report emphasizes the value of religion to society in terms of providing humanitarian work, supporting families, and acting as a monitoring government of “conscience.”

“In many cases, the law protects Americans’ religious expression, but government officials and employers often use fear tactics to silence individuals into believing they do not have the right to publicly express their faith,” the report said.

It argues – citing one of its members, the Catholic media figure Bishop Robert Barron – that notions of strict separation of church and state can be traced back to the “God is dead” ideology that originated in Europe and viewed traditional religion as an opponent of individual independence.

“This way of thinking has made its way… into American culture and the courtroom,” the report said.

Little recognition for non-religious Americans

The report, while touting the value of religion, appears to focus little on the large American population with no religious affiliation. The main argument of many atheists and secular humanists is that one can be “good without God”—that religion has no monopoly on virtue and can do harm as well as good.

The lawsuit challenging the commission, brought by the Interfaith Alliance and other religious groups, says its lack of ideological scope is evident in the commissioners’ assertion that America is a specifically Judeo-Christian or Christian nation, and that most of the commission’s meetings were held at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, a Christian-led institution.

The Republican administration is asking a federal court to dismiss the lawsuit. The government cites legal technicalities and asserts that the law does not specify how balanced a committee should be or which views should be represented.

This draft report comes two months after another entity created by Trump — the Anti-Christian Bias Task Force — released its own report. It claimed that Christians have faced discrimination under Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration in areas such as education, the tax code and the prosecution of anti-abortion protesters.

Progressive critics said the report failed to make its case and amounted to advocacy rather than an investigation.