Religious Loyalty Tests Have No Place in a Democracy

I am writing to raise alarm over a recent internal memo issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), sent in response to Executive Order 14202: “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias.” The memo, titled “MESSAGE FROM THE SECRETARY – Task Force on Anti-Christian Bias,” requests that all VA employees submit reports of anti-Christian discrimination to a dedicated government email address. It explicitly encourages employees to include names, dates, and locations, and outlines a list of “bias” indicators, including: • Any adverse response to Christian religious displays • Denied accommodations for Christian holidays or vaccine exemptions • Retaliation for opposing abortion or gender-affirming care • Even vague, undocumented “understandings” or “informal policies” This is not a neutral policy. This is state enforcement of religious ideology—with Christianity singled out as the only belief system deserving federal protection. That is unconstitutional. The First Amendment prohibits the government from establishing religion or favoring one over another. Yet this VA memo, under executive direction, does precisely that—while ignoring discrimination faced by Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, atheist, and other communities. There are hundreds of active faiths in the U.S. The VA serves all veterans, not just Christian ones. Its policies must reflect religious neutrality, not political loyalty to a single tradition. Let’s be clear: this isn’t about protecting faith. This is about elevating one faith into policy and encouraging government workers to report and monitor each other in its name. It creates a culture of fear, division, and religious surveillance that has no place in a democratic republic. This is the federal government institutionalizing sectarian loyalty. I urge Congress to: 1. Immediately investigate the VA memo and the implementation of Executive Order 14202 across federal agencies. 2. Reaffirm the principle of religious equality under the Constitution—no faith above another. 3. Pass legislation to prohibit the use of federal resources to promote or enforce any single religion within the civil service. Separation of church and state isn’t anti-faith. It’s what keeps faith free. This memo is a warning sign—not just of religious bias, but of creeping theocracy. You must act now—before the government stops defending religious liberty and starts defining it.