The State Department has issued an appeal for its employees to report instances of alleged anti-Christian bias that may have occurred during the Biden administration, including formal or informal actions due to opposition to vaccines or personal pronoun choice.
In a cable sent Friday to all U.S. diplomatic missions, Secretary of State Marco Rubio asked staffers to 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 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.
There is no immediate indication that such discrimination, as defined by President Trump’s State Department, took place under Biden.
“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.”
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.
The move comes after Mr. Trump signed an executive order in February forming a task force to look into what his administration views as anti-Christian bias. The order cited arrests of anti-abortion protesters for allegedly blockading abortion clinics and Biden-era policies on transgender rights.
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.
The cable was sent amid upheaval at the State Department. Peter Marocco, who oversaw Mr. Trump’s efforts to eliminate the U.S. Agency for International Development, left his post as Director of the Office of Foreign Assistance, the State Department confirmed Monday. Marocco — who served in several roles in Mr. Trump’s first term — was brought into the State Department to scrutinize U.S. foreign aid funding, a senior administration official told CBS News.
