Faith leaders accuse White House Faith Office of stonewalling them

"Catch up quick: President Trump created the White House Faith Office by executive order on Feb. 7, 2025, placing it within the Domestic Policy Council and moving it into the White House complex. The move was designed to signal a "direct line" between people of faith and the executive branch. Unlike the versions under prior administrations, which were often situated in agencies or outside the immediate West Wing orbit, this office is central to Trump's "religious freedom" agenda."

"Doug Pagitt, executive director of progressive Christian group Vote Common Good, tells Axios he's repeatedly sought meetings with the Faith Office, including around delivering a clergy petition about ICE. In one instance, Pagitt said the office claimed they were too busy to meet because they were "consumed" with the National Prayer Breakfast, an event technically run by a non-profit, not the White House."

""Trump uses God as this kind of divine personal cheerleader who is so proud of him," Interfaith Alliance president and CEO Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush tells Axios. Raushenbush said the Faith Office has turned into PR opportunities for white conservative Christian to pray over Trump as if he's anointed instead of listening to concerns from other leaders about Islamophobia and antisemitism."

President Trump created the White House Faith Office by executive order on Feb. 7, 2025, placing it within the Domestic Policy Council and into the White House complex. The office was intended to signal a direct line between people of faith and the executive branch and centralize a religious-freedom agenda. Faith leaders report a closed-door policy toward those not aligned with specific cultural and immigration goals. Progressive leader Doug Pagitt says meeting requests, including a clergy petition about ICE, were rebuffed because the office was 'consumed' with the National Prayer Breakfast. Critics call the office a vehicle for conservative Christian PR; the White House says it protects Americans' rights to pray and engage in policy.

Read at Axios