President Donald Trump announced Monday the Department of Education would be issuing upcoming guidance that protects prayer in public schools.
Trump made the announcement at the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission hearing, held at the Museum of the Bible.
“I’m pleased to announce this morning that the Department of Education will soon issue new guidance protecting the right to prayer in our public schools,” he said, to audience applause.
The commission’s hearing on Monday was intended to look at the “historic landscape of religious liberty in the educational setting,” the Department of Justice said.
“As president, I will always defend our nation’s glorious heritage, and we will protect the Judeo Christian principles of our founding, and we will protect them with vigor,” Trump said. “We have to bring back religion in America, bring it back stronger than ever before.”
Trump said the commission was gathered Monday to discuss the “grave threats to religious liberty in American schools.”
“I will tell you, a lot of progress has been made in the last eight months, tremendous progress, more than I thought we could make in so many ways,” he said.
Trump said that over the course of the country’s history, the Bible was found in “every classroom in the nation.” On Monday, however, he said students are “indoctrinated with anti-religious propaganda and some are even punished for their religious beliefs.”
The right to pray in school is protected under the First Amendment’s religious freedom guarantees.
It was the commission’s second public meeting. In June, Attorney General Pam Bondi addressed members of the commission and said they will ensure Americans can live out their faith freely and “without fear.”
Bondi expressed gratitude for Trump’s efforts to expand religious liberty and the establishment of the presidential commission.
Trump signed an executive order on May 1, which is National Day of Prayer, to create the commission. Its panel members include TV talk-show host Phil McGraw, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former U.S. Housing Secretary Ben Carson, among others.
The commission plans to host several hearings over the next several months.
While Trump, Bondi and the commission’s members are celebrating the expanded efforts, some groups are concerned that the actions are only focused on promoting Christian beliefs. Trump’s order doesn’t specifically cite Christianity, but a fact sheet says the task force has been designed to “eradicate anti-Christian bias.”
Department of Education Press Secretary Savannah Newhouse said in a statement to The Deseret News that free exercise of religion is a “founding principle” that is protected by the Constitution.
“The Department of Education looks forward to supporting President Trump’s vision to promote religious liberty in our schools across the country,” Newhouse said.