President Trump’s acting chief of staff and director of the Office of Management and Budget has admitted what we all know: Christian nationalism is infecting government policy.

Speaking at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday, Mick Mulvaney told his fellow Catholics: “The president has allowed us, Christians of all denominations, folks from all different faiths … to be very vocal about their faith, and to practice their faith, and to take their faith and work it into our policies.”

As we said, this isn’t a surprise to FFRF. FFRF Director of Strategic Response Andrew Seidel broke the story that the White House Bible Study group influenced the Trump administration’s child separation policy. Religion has been corrupting public policy for some time, but it seems to be reaching new heights under the Trump presidency with the current wave of Christian nationalism.

We know that the Muslim ban was motivated by religion.

We know that moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem was motivated by religion.

We know that pretty much every move Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos makes to degrade our public schools and erode public education is primarily to promote her religion.

We know that Trump’s executive order on “religious liberty” was motivated by religion. That’s why FFRF sued over the order — and prevailed.

The warped Orwellian Christian nationalist definition of “religious freedom” has become a cause celebre in this presidency.

Freethinker and intellectual Christopher Hitchens was right when he wrote that “religion poisons everything,” and Mulvaney has confirmed it.

What’s most striking about Mulvaney’s comments is not the admission itself — which will certainly come up in a few court cases — but the brazen nature of the admission. Clearly, Mulvaney doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation exists to stop theocrats like Mulvaney from using the machinery of the state to impose his religion on every American citizen and, through our foreign policy, numerous non-citizens as well. In this climate, we need all the help we can get. Support our work today.

Photo by Gage Skidmore Under CC BY-SA 3.0