President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to create a new presidential commission on religious liberty.
He announced the commission during a National Day of Prayer event at the White House.
The commission will be tasked with producing a report on current threats to domestic religious liberty, strategies to preserve and enhance religious liberty protections for future generations, and programs to increase “America’s peaceful religious pluralism,” according to the order.
It will look into the First Amendment rights of pastors and other religious leaders, attacks on houses of worship and threats to parents wanting to choose a religious education for their children. The commission is expected to issue a report on its findings around July 4, 2026.
“Americans need to be reacquainted with our nation’s superb experiment in religious freedom in order to preserve it against emerging threats,” the order states. “Therefore, the federal government will promote citizens’ pride in our foundational history, identify emerging threats to religious liberty, uphold federal laws that protect all citizens’ full participation in a pluralistic democracy and protect the free exercise of religion.”
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will serve as chairman of the commission and television personality Phil McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil, will also participate. Both appeared at the White House Thursday during the prayer event.
Other members include Kelly Shackleford, president, CEO and chief counsel to First Liberty, an organization providing legal services on religious liberty issues; former Housing and Urban Development leader Ben Carson, and evangelist Franklin Graham, who heads Samaritan’s Purse, a humanitarian organization.
“The last administration attacked people of faith for four years,” Mr. Patrick said. “There’s a saying that no one should get between a doctor and a patient. I think we would say no one should get between God and a believer. No one should get between God and those seeking him.”
Paul White-Cain, who leads the White House faith office, said that under Mr. Trump, “faith has not been pushed aside.”
“It has been brought back to where it always belongs and that is the center,” she said.
The commission will include leaders from “diverse” religious backgrounds, including clergy members, legal experts, lay experts, academics and public advocates, according to the order.
In February, Mr. Trump signed an executive order establishing an anti-Christian bias task force at the Justice Department.
