This article first appeared in the State of Faith Newsletter. Sign up to receive our newsletter in your inbox every Monday night.
On Wednesday morning, with blurry vision and a large mug of coffee, I began covering the post-election report, trying to figure out the significance of former President Donald Trump’s victory.
I wrote about how people of faith voted, what religious groups said, and how abortion-related ballot measures were passed.
But I didn’t get a chance to replay the coverage of President Trump’s religious freedom legacy, and the expected religious freedom movements over the next four years.
So I’d like to share some thoughts with you, along with the results of a survey that asked American voters to make their general predictions.
First, I think it’s safe to say that Trump will rely on the same type of faith-related advisers in his second term as he did in his first term. These advisors will be advocates for religious freedom protections and will work to strengthen or expand the protections currently available in federal regulations.
These legal changes will impact many ongoing policy discussions, but especially those regarding LGBTQ rights. Under the Trump administration, it will likely be easier for faith-affiliated organizations to obtain exemptions from laws aimed at reducing anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
The anticipated surge in exemptions will further intensify the culture wars, but it is doubtful that the Trump administration will devote resources to quelling them. This could be bad news in the long run, according to some religious freedom advocates. Because religious freedom is safest when Americans from all walks of life understand its importance.
The Trump administration is likely to invest resources in international religious freedom, including putting the State Department’s religious advisers in front of microphones more often. The Biden administration has done a lot of work on international religious freedom, but that work has often been lost in other foreign policy discussions.
Last but not least, I think there are many future stories related to President Trump’s relationship with the Supreme Court, but religious freedom cases are overshadowed by presidential power and immigration cases. I think I’ll put it away. Currently, courts seem to be deliberately avoiding faith-related disputes, and I expect that to continue for some time.
Lastly, I would like to share statistics from the Pew Research Center, which surveyed Americans on what they expect from Trump’s second term.
More than half (52%) of registered voters say they believe Trump will be at least an average president, according to a Pew poll. 22% said he would be “great” and 19% said he would be “good.”
Just came out of the press
Why NFL fans have a newfound love for Pope Francis
What religious leaders have to say about President Trump’s victory
Faith Vote in 2024 – Comparison with 2020
What happened to anti-abortion measures on election day?
This week’s term: final girl
The last girl trope is a staple of horror movies. This refers to the common practice of a sane, innocent girl defeating the bad guy in the final moments of a movie.
My colleague Tad Walch wrote about the final girl metaphor as part of his coverage of his new film, Heresy.
Sister missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are key characters in the film. As part of this trope, young women are portrayed as naive and vulnerable.
This depiction has irritated Latter-day Saints and others. They know firsthand that sister missionaries have complex and interesting backstories and deep and nuanced connections to their faith.
“We’re bringing in really great people, these young, vulnerable 19- and 20-year-olds who are sacrificing a year and a half of their lives to do something really wholesome and good. But instead of focusing on that,[The filmmakers]focus on their immaturity and naivety, which is certainly present because they’re young, and make things like that the center of discussion, like a humiliation to the faith as a whole. We want to make it into something,” Christine said. Bryce, co-host of the podcast Angels and Seerstones: A Latter-day Saint Folklore Podcast, spoke in an interview with Tad.
What I’m reading is…
Some young women, dissatisfied with the results of the 2024 elections, turned to South Korea’s 4B movement for solace. The feminist movement has been criticized for being too extreme, encouraging women to distance themselves from men and focus on their own needs and interests, according to the Washington Post.
Muslims and Jews in Amsterdam and around the world are reeling after recent soccer matches turned violent. Local authorities are still trying to figure out what went wrong and decide how to deal with anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the future, according to the New York Times.
Christianity Today investigated the interesting history of the unofficial hymn for the U.S. Space Force.
Probability and outcome
As mentioned in a recent article, Pope Francis began using the same social media hashtag used by New Orleans Saints fans: #Saints. NFL teams are having a lot of fun with this coincidence, including after Sunday’s big win. “After this, we were unbeaten,” the team wrote to X after Sunday’s game, quoting Pope’s tweet about becoming #Saints with a joyful heart.
