WATCH: Trump receives report from Religious Liberty Commission in the Oval Office

By — Peter Smith, Associated Press Peter Smith, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-trump-receives-report-from-religious-liberty-commission-in-the-oval-office Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter WATCH: Trump receives report from Religious Liberty Commission in the Oval Office Politics Jun 26, 2026 5:04 PM EDT A new report by a Trump administration commission suggests replacing the idea of separating church and state with the idea of building bridges between them. The assertion — challenging a longstanding concept in American law — comes amid a raft of recommendations in a draft report of the Religious Liberty Commission, released Friday afternoon. Watch the presentation of the Religious Liberty Commission's report in the video player above. The advisory body was created by President Donald Trump last year and filled almost entirely by conservative Christians. The 224-page draft report — part policy document, part philosophical argument — echoes members' support for a stronger role for religion and religious expression in government, schools and the public square. WATCH: Trump speaks at Faith and Freedom Coalition policy conference The report applauds recent Supreme Court decisions expanding rights to religious expression in public settings, such as creating opt-outs for religious objections to school lessons. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. The report recommends eliminating the "Johnson Amendment" that forbids political activities by tax-exempt religious groups — a longstanding goal of Trump. It calls for compensating military service members who were discharged for refusing COVID-19 vaccines. It calls in general for allowing more religious expression in the public square, greater access to public money for faith-based agencies and broader exemptions for those claiming conscientious objections to policies ranging from vaccine mandates to pronoun usage to classroom lessons. It recommends that federal agencies publish "Know Your Rights" posters for various settings and establish hotlines to receive complaints about religious liberty violations. The draft report also calls for the creation of new honors — a Presidential Medal of Religious Liberty and First Freedom Hero Awards. And it calls for exhibits and markers at historic sites paying tribute to the role of religion in American history. The draft report is now available for public comment over the next 15 days. It is sure to draw opposition. Some other groups defend the separation of church and state A coalition of groups – including one suing over the commission's lack of ideological diversity, as required of federal advisory panels – issued a preemptive report earlier in June defending the concept of church-state separation. "Religious liberty belongs to all people, not to any single tradition, political