In May 2025, US President Donald Trump established the Religious Liberty Commission to address what the administration and its religious right supporters view as systemic religious discrimination due to excessive secularization in American society.

Last month, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding, the commission released a 224-page draft report titled "Americans’ First Freedom." The report advocates redefining the separation of church and state and proposes measures to reverse secularization across education, government, the military, employment, and public healthcare. It also suggests creating hotlines to report authorities who allegedly discriminate against religious liberty.

Notably, the report singles out European philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche, Michel Foucault, and Jean-Paul Sartre as intellectual influences behind the secularization it criticizes. On page 41, under the section "Building Walls of Separation between Church and State," the report states that these thinkers embraced the belief that "God is dead," rejecting God and dismissing objective truth and morality as pretenses used to gain power. This critique is seen as ironic given the commission’s political backing.

The commission’s efforts reflect ongoing debates about the role of religion in American public life and the interpretation of religious liberty.

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