The Freedom From Religion Foundation is strongly criticizing Wednesday’s Religious Liberty Commission hearing in Dallas for presenting a distorted, partisan and theologically driven picture of “religious liberty” in the U.S. military.

FFRF itself came under fire during the hearing, when Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas repeated misleading claims about a 2020 IRS inquiry prompted by his highly partisan electioneering from the pulpit. FFRF’s original complaint accurately documented statements endorsing then-Vice President Mike Pence as a future president — statements Jeffress made during a worship service in direct violation of federal tax law.

Rather than addressing well-documented concerns about coercion and discrimination faced by service members under Christian nationalist Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, commissioners again amplified Christian nationalist grievances, political misinformation and manufactured persecution narratives.

“Service members are living with real religious coercion — not the imaginary persecution described today,” says FFRF Co-President Dan Barker. “The commission chose to ignore their reality and instead to advance an ideological political narrative.”

The meeting opened with a shout-out to billionaire Harlan Crow, who personally requested to host the event at his Dallas property. Crow is widely known for his close relationship with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, including years of undisclosed luxury gifts and financial benefits. Then came a prayer led by former HUD Secretary Ben Carson. Christian nationalist activist and pseudo-historian Dave Barton next provided his usual revisionist history, claiming the military actively promoted Christianity throughout history until Presidents Obama and Biden put a stop to it.

Commissioners and panelists repeatedly invoked the false trope that “there are no atheists in foxholes” — a claim FFRF has long refuted and one that erases the many nonreligious service members who have served and sacrificed for their country. One speaker even relayed a story about how “the loudmouth atheists, when the bullets were flying, believed in God,” an insulting fabrication belied by actual veterans’ testimony. Nearly a third of active military have no religious affiliation. Nineteen percent of FFRF’s 42,000 members are veterans or active military.

Capt. Sukhbir Singh Toor, USMC, Ret., a member of the Sikh faith, briefly highlighted a genuine religious liberty issue — discriminatory beard and grooming restrictions — one of the few legitimate concerns raised at the hearing. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has pushed to eliminate so-called “beardos” from the armed forces, drawing criticism from service members who say the policy tramples religious freedoms and disproportionately targets Black men, Muslims and Sikhs.

Despite token inclusion of a few non-Christian panelists, the language and tone of the hearing made clear that commissioners view Christianity as the default faith of the U.S. military and of the country itself. This isn’t surprising given the makeup of the commission, including religious hardliners such as Kelly Shackelford of First Liberty, Allyson Ho and TV personality Phil McGraw.

In his tirade against FFRF’s justified complaint about his electioneering, Jeffress insisted the government has “absolutely no right to regulate what is said in a church,” railing against the Johnson Amendment and portraying ordinary enforcement of nonprofit law as anti-Christian persecution. His appearance had no meaningful connection to military issues, but reinforced the commission’s wider Christian nationalist narrative.

The Commission’s selective outrage stands in stark contrast to the unprecedented sectarian campaign currently underway inside the Department of War under Secretary Pete Hegseth. Hegseth has repeatedly declared the United States a “Christian nation,” asserted that “the Christian faith” is “the faith of this country,” and framed military decisions as divinely guided.

His department has produced promotional videos overlaying bible verses onto footage of missiles, fighter jets and soldiers; organized Christian prayers for troops and inserted sectarian language into official communications.

Most strikingly, Hegseth has established monthly Christian prayer services at the Pentagon during duty hours, featuring handpicked evangelical preachers.

Despite this extensive record of coercive religious pressure, commissioners never mentioned Hegseth’s actions. Instead, the commission spent the hearing portraying the military as hostile to Christianity — fixating on issues like religious objections to mandatory vaccination requirements and putting bible verses on military-themed dog tags.

“Let’s be absolutely clear: This commission is not about religious liberty — it’s about the government actively promoting religion and Christian nationalist politics,” Barker adds.

FFRF will continue supporting service members subjected to religious coercion and will work to expose how the term “religious liberty” is used as a tool of Christian nationalist power.

Service members and veterans experiencing coercion or violations of conscience are encouraged to confidentially contact FFRF for assistance.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters of nontheism. With about 42,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

The post Latest Religious Liberty Commission hearing distorts military religious liberty, calls out FFRF appeared first on Freedom From Religion Foundation.