State Department wants staff to report instances of alleged
anti-Christian bias during Biden's term
[April 14, 2025]
By MATTHEW LEE
WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Christian world commemorates Holy Week leading
up to Easter Sunday, the State Department has issued an appeal for its
employees to report instances of alleged anti-Christian bias, including
formal or informal actions due to opposition to vaccines or personal
pronoun choice, that may have occurred during the Biden administration.
The call comes amid heightened fear and anxiety in the American
diplomatic corps, which is bracing for a new update on the Department of
Government Efficiency -inspired budget and staff cuts that is due to be
presented to the White House on Monday. That update is expected to
include the State Department’s latest estimates of voluntary retirements
and separations and how those will affect potential future layoffs to
meet benchmarks from Elon Musk's DOGE and the government's human
resources agency, according to officials familiar with the process.
In an unexpected move, Pete Marocco, a Trump administration political
appointee who oversaw the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for
International Development, has left the State Department, the officials
said. He had moved to State as the director of foreign assistance in
March after the remaining USAID programs were shifted under the
department.
Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters at the time that
Marocco was filling “an indispensable role in aligning all U.S.
government foreign assistance with the president’s priorities.”
But in confirming Marocco’s departure on Sunday, the officials said
Marocco left after completing the job he was brought on board to do,
which was to dismantle USAID.
The update to be presented Monday also is expected to add clarity to
plans to fold any surviving USAID programs into the department.
But these officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss
personnel matters, said the update to the White House Office of
Personnel Management would not be the final word on the reorganization
of the State Department. And, they denied speculation among the rank and
file that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had refused to sign off on the
document.
While foreign and civil service employees await word on their futures,
the State Department has moved ahead with an initiative aimed at rooting
out religious bias in its policies and hiring practices with a specific
emphasis on anti-Christian activity that may have occurred under
President Joe Biden.
There is no immediate indication that such discrimination, as defined by
President Donald Trump’s State Department, took place under Biden.
In a cable sent Friday to all U.S. diplomatic missions, Rubio asked that
staffers report any perceived discriminatory actions taken against
Christians or employees advocating on their behalf between January 2021
and January 2025. The cable, copies of which were obtained by The
Associated Press, says that all reported allegations will be
investigated by a government-wide task force on anti-Christian bias and
if discrimination is found the culprits may be disciplined. It also
makes clear that allegations can be submitted anonymously.
“The task force will collect information and ideas from individuals and
groups, including Department employees, affected by anti-Christian bias
or other religious discriminatory conduct,” the cable says.
“The task force is soliciting examples of anti-religious bias,
particularly from the past four years, where the Department targeted
anyone for their religion, including discrimination, harassment,
exclusion, disciplinary action, adverse security clearance
determinations, or any other adverse action, or in retaliation for
exercising their religious rights,” the cable said. “This includes
anti-religious bias committed by department employees in their official
duties against members of the public.”
[to top of second column]
|
The Harry S. Truman Building, headquarters for the State Department,
is seen in Washington, March 9, 2009. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite,
File)
Examples of potential violations include formal or informal actions
taken against a person because they requested religious
accommodation “from taking mandatory vaccines or observing religious
holidays ” and “mistreatment for refusing to participate in events
and activities that promoted themes inconsistent with or hostile to
one’s religious beliefs, including policies or practices related to
preferred personal pronouns,” according to the cable.
Others include “mistreatment for opposing displays of flags, banners
or other paraphernalia on or in government facilities because of
religious objection or for opposing official media content due to
religious objections, forcing employees to remove personal displays
of religious faith or conscience, whether as part of
clothing/accessories items on desks or in personal workspace,” the
cable said.
In non-governmental chat groups and elsewhere, some State Department
employees expressed alarm over the cable, particularly as it was
issued shortly after the promotion of a junior foreign service
officer to temporarily run the department’s human resources office,
the Bureau of Global Talent Management.
Lew Olowski assumed that job last week and in his first comments to
employees gave a welcome address to a new class of incoming
diplomats that cited both biblical verses and religiously themed
quotes from President Abraham Lincoln.
After swearing in the new class with the oath to Constitution,
Olowski told them: “Oaths and words are different. Words are for
talking. Dolphins can talk. Oaths are covenants. Animals do not
covenant. Only God and man can make covenants.”
“To an officer of the United States like you and me, the
Constitution is our commandment. Its words are like the word of God
and the words of the oath are our creation as officers,” he said,
according to a transcript of his remarks.
“And these words are our beginning. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God,” he said, before
praising foreign service officers who have died while in service to
the country.
In a perhaps unusual coincidence, reports of anti-Christian or other
religious bias are to be reported to Olowski’s wife, Heather, who is
the head of the State Department’s office of civil rights.
Last week, the American Foreign Service Association, which
represents U.S. diplomats, and the American Academy of Diplomacy
said Olowski's appointment was an affront to the long-held standard
that the post be occupied by either a current senior or retired
career diplomat. His numerous pro-Trump and anti-immigrant writings
in conservative publications over the past several years had been
been widely shared among internal group chats.
___
Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Jerusalem contributed to this
report.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
