The Freedom From Religion Foundation is condemning President Trump’s inflammatory remarks at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority Conference, where he smeared political opponents as “godless communists,” falsely cast Christianity as the foundation of American identity and warned supporters that Democrats “will close your churches.”

“The president of the United States has no business telling Americans that patriotism depends on belief in God, much less demonizing millions of nonreligious citizens as threats to the country,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor.

Speaking to religious-right activists in Washington, D.C., Trump repeatedly portrayed Christianity as the defining force behind the United States. “Our founders invoked the Creator four times in the Declaration of Independence. Four times. I wasn’t mentioned once, I’m very upset,” he joked before asserting that “faith built this country into the most exceptional nation in the history of the world.” He also claimed that “Americans have always deeply believed in the promise of Christ’s words in the Gospel of Matthew. With God, all things are possible.” Trump went on to declare that America has “always” been and “always will” be “one nation under God,” while touting his administration’s White House Faith Office, Religious Liberty Commission and Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias.

“The United States was not founded as a Christian nation,” Gaylor explains. “The Declaration of Independence reflects the deistic beliefs of its principal author, Thomas Jefferson, but it is the Constitution, our governing document, that establishes our system of government. It is intentionally secular, contains no reference to Christianity and explicitly bars religious tests for public office. America’s strength comes from protecting every citizen’s freedom of conscience, not elevating one religion above all others.”

Most disturbingly, Trump described his political opponents as “hardcore godless communists,” called them the “most serious threat” to the country since its founding and warned that they “want to end religion.” This rhetoric is reckless, divisive and deeply hostile to the constitutional promise that Americans are equal citizens regardless of religious belief or disbelief.

FFRF notes that atheists, agnostics, humanists and other nonreligious Americans serve in the military, teach in public schools, hold public office, pay taxes, raise families and contribute to their communities. They are not enemies of the nation. They are part of its fabric.

Trump’s attempt to merge Christianity with national identity also rewrites American history. The United States was founded on a secular Constitution that contains no references to God, Jesus or Christianity. Its genius lies in preventing the government from taking sides in religious matters, ensuring that religion remains voluntary rather than state-sponsored.

The danger is not a secular government. The danger is a president using government power to privilege one religious viewpoint, vilify dissenters and turn religious identity into a partisan weapon.

FFRF urges Americans to reject this dangerous rhetoric and recommit to the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. No president or religious faction owns the United States. It belongs equally to all of us.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to defending the constitutional principle of separation between state and church and educating the public on matters relating to nontheism. With about 41,000 members, FFRF is the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and humanists) in North America. For more information, visit ffrf.org.

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