UNSTOPPABLE NEWS FORCE: HomeOpinionCommentary Trump moves to counter hatred of Christians and Jews Left claims it doesn't exist Hatred of Christians and Jews illustration by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times Hatred of Christians and Jews illustration by Alexander Hunter/The Washington Times more > Print Commentary By Don Feder - Sunday, February 16, 2025 OPINION: President Trump believes the hand of God saved him from an assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania. Now Mr. Trump is extending his hand to persecuted Christians and Jews — not in Africa or the Middle East but right here in America. At the National Prayer Breakfast on Feb. 6, the president announced a task force to combat anti-Christian bias headed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, a passionate defender of First Amendment freedom of religion. “While I’m in the White House, we will protect Christians in our schools, in our military, in our government and in the public square,” Mr. Trump proclaimed. You Might Also Like PAID Berries for Breakfast? Doctor Says These are Aging Seniors (Avoid At All Costs) (thehealthyfat.com) Female Athletes Who Are Dominating 2024PAID Female Athletes Who Are Dominating 2024 (sportsbrief.com) This drew the predictable response from the left. USA Today columnist Chris Brennan insisted, “There is no bias” against Christians. If he went to a circus, he’d miss the elephants. Americans United for Separation of Church and State squawked that the task force would “misuse religious freedom to justify bigotry and discrimination.” Fighting bigotry and discrimination justifies bigotry and discrimination? The group should change its name to Americans United for the Separation of Rhetoric and Reason. TIMESMYView all Trump’s record-breaking start rattles Washington, rankles rivals, but earns raves from voters Editorial Confirm Kash Patel as FBI chief Trump starting task force to combat anti-Christian actions; AG Bondi to lead it In a 2023 survey, 60% of White evangelicals said they faced a lot of discrimination. From May 2020 through November 2024, there were 366 attacks on Catholic churches in 43 states, including arson, vandalism and desecration. The Justice Department’s civil rights division prosecuted more than 50 pro-life activists involved in sidewalk counseling, while 96 violent attacks on pregnancy resource centers and pro-life offices were largely ignored. The FBI’s office in Richmond, Virginia, produced an 11-page memo that suggested a link between traditional Catholics and domestic terrorism. After the bizarre document was leaked, it was hastily withdrawn. Still, it reflected the mindset of federal law enforcement under President Biden. Comparing Mr. Trump and his predecessor, CatholicVote charges: “Our second Catholic President facilitated the persecution and prosecution of Christians who disagreed with his anti-Christian agenda, while the current president stands strong for the safety and religious freedom of Christians everywhere.” While the president moved to counter Christophobia, he also joined the fight against antisemitism. The Department of Justice announced a task force to combat antisemitism in schools and colleges, explaining, “Jewish students have faced an unprecedented barrage of discrimination,” including assault, harassment and intimidation. In testimony before Congress in 2023, the presidents of Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania equivocated on whether calls for genocide violate their codes of conduct on harassment. Claudine Gay, then president of Harvard, absurdly declared, “When speech crosses into conduct, we take action.” In other words, until the pro-Hamas mob begins setting up gas chambers on the quad, Ivy League schools will take a wait-and-see approach. Rep. Elise Stefanik, Mr. Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, said the testimony was “pathetic and morally bankrupt.” The president has promised to revoke the visas of foreign students engaged in anti-Jewish demonstrations. Antisemitism has reached epidemic proportions. In the three months after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas atrocities in Israel, there were four times the number of attacks on Jews as in the same period the year before. Jews are 2% of the U.S. population but accounted for 68% of all religion-based hate crimes reported in 2023. I wonder whether moving against this evil constitutes a “misuse of religious freedom to justify bigotry and discrimination.” Better check with the Orwellian Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Crimes against Christians and Jews should not be viewed in isolation but as part of a far-ranging war against faith and religious values. Anti-Christian animus is driven by the awareness that committed Christians uphold biblical values, including normative sexual morality, putting them at odds with abortion on demand, transgenderism and the LGBTQ agenda. Most American Jews aren’t that religious. But those who are the most visibly Jewish — Orthodox Jews and Hasidim — have borne the brunt of antisemitic attacks driven by the left and radical Islam. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, observes that the worst antisemites are on the left. “They are well-educated and occupy elite seats in our institutions,” Mr. Donohue said. Like Harvard and MIT? At the National Prayer Breakfast, Mr. Trump confessed: “I really believe you can’t be happy without religion, without that belief. Let’s bring religion back; let’s bring God back into our lives.” For the left, those are fighting words, which is why its response to Mr. Trump’s efforts to fight religious discrimination is borderline hysterical. • Don Feder is a columnist with The Washington Times.