Trump, Harris and the future of religious freedom

A version of this article was first published in the State of Faith newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Monday night.
Over the past three months, I’ve spent hours thinking about religious freedom and the presidential election.
But if you asked me whether former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris would do a better job protecting faith groups, I’d respond with a question, not a set of carefully researched facts.
What do you mean by religious freedom?
That question always matters in religious freedom debates, but it feels especially significant this fall as Trump and Harris fight to spend the next four years in the White House.
Although both candidates identify as Christian and talk about protecting people of faith on the campaign trail, their records on faith-related policy issues are quite different, as are their religious backgrounds.
Trump grew up Presbyterian, which is a mainline Protestant denomination, but he’s best known for his tight relationship with evangelical Christians.
Harris is Baptist, but she’s closely tied to Hinduism, Judaism and non-Baptist Christian traditions through family and friends.
Trump often speaks inelegantly about faith, and he’s insulted entire religions on more than one occasion.
Harris has repeatedly angered more conservative Christians with comments about their beliefs on issues like abortion, while pleasing more liberal Christians by making it clear that it’s possible to be religious and a Democrat at the same time.
During his four years as president, Trump selected advisers and officials who worked to increase enforcement of religious freedom laws and expand faith-based exemptions in policies related to LGBTQ rights.
During her time in the Senate, Harris argued for some limits on religious freedom protections in cases where they reduced abortion access or disrupted nondiscrimination laws. In an interview Tuesday with NBC News, she described adding religious exemptions to a law protecting abortion access as “making concessions.”
To Americans who feel that religious freedom is threatened by people like Harris, Trump is a hero. To Americans who feel that religious freedom laws have become too broad, Harris is.
Few Americans think the label of defender of religious freedom applies to them both.
To learn more about the candidates’ complex faith-related reputations, check out my recent articles on Trump and Harris.
Jesus, take the bat: David Fry credits God with game-winning home run
3 powerful quotes from a coach who just shocked the sports world by retiring
What 2 days in June 2020 tell us about Trump and religious freedom
Deion Sanders is caught up in a religious freedom controversy — again
If someone dies after voting early, does his vote still count?
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It’s two weeks until Election Day, which means I’m running out of time to analyze faith-related aspects of the presidential race. Are there any topics you’d still like to see covered? Send them my way.