Donald Trump's campaign to keep evangelicals onside with his troubled presidency continued yesterday when he officially proclaimed January 16 'Religious Freedom Day' in the US, declaring that no American should have to choose between faith and the law.
The presidential proclamation of the day is not new, and commemorates the Virginia General Assembly's adoption of Thomas Jefferson's Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom – which disestablished the Church of England – on January 16, 1786.
The statute became the basis for the First Amendment to the Constitution, which includes the guarantee that 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof'.
But despite successive presidents proclaiming the day, Trump is especially keen to appeal to the evangelical vote which helped propel him into office and which shows no sign of fading away from him.
Trump said: 'No American – whether a nun, nurse, baker or business owner – should be forced to choose between the tenets of faith or adherence to the law.'
He claimed America's 'cherished legacy of religious liberty' is undermined by threatening tax consequences for churches that endorse political candidates and by requiring individuals or organisations to obey laws that violate their conscience.
'Unfortunately, not all have recognized the importance of religious freedom, whether by threatening tax consequences for particular forms of religious speech, or forcing people to comply with laws that violate their core religious beliefs without sufficient justification,' Trump said. 'These incursions, little by little, can destroy the fundamental freedom underlying our democracy.'
Elsewhere, Trump wrote in this year's proclamation: 'We will continue to condemn and combat extremism, terrorism, and violence against people of faith, including genocide waged by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria against Yezidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims.'
Summarising the past year's efforts in the area of religious freedom, the White House emphasised yesterday that Trump had issued an executive order last May entitled 'Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty,' reinforcing the religious freedom protections of the Constitution and minimising 'undue interference by the Federal Government' in areas such as health care.
It added that also in May, Trump visited Pope Francis, with the pair discussing how religious communities could help combat terrorism and relieve human suffering in afflicted parts of the world.
And it said that Vice President Mike Pence 'has been a forceful advocate for religious freedom, perhaps most visibly in a stirring speech delivered at the World Summit in Defense of Persecuted Christians last May'.
