Church and State

A Trump administration report claims that anti-Christian bias is pervasive inside the State Department. But multiple Christian employees say they never felt targeted—and now they worry members of other faiths are being targeted instead.

The State Department, for its part, maintains that discrimination against Christians was both real and widespread before Trump’s return to office. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Julia Ioffe

September 17, 2025

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Earlier this month, the official State Department X account tweeted out a declaration that alarmed much of what’s left of Foggy Bottom. “Our nation was founded on the recognition that moral virtue and a steadfast faith in God are necessary preconditions of freedom,” it proclaimed. “Yet under the Biden Administration, U.S. foreign policy belittled Christianity and weaponized government against faith. That era has ended. Under @POTUS’s leadership, the State Department will eradicate practices that devalue and demean the Christian faith.”