Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins speaks Jan. 21, 2025, during his Senate confirmation hearing in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs is establishing a task force with the goal to identify and eliminate anti-Christian discrimination at the agency.
The task force will collect reports from employees on actions and activities that are deemed “hostile” to Christian views and values, according to an internal memo that VA Secretary Doug Collins, a pastor and Air Force Reserve chaplain, sent to employees.
Collins wrote in his email that the creation of the task force aligns with President Donald Trump’s executive order on Feb. 6 to end the “anti-Christian weaponization” of the federal government and protect religious freedom.
Employees are asked to report other workers by name along with their concerns about discriminatory actions to a dedicated email: Anti-ChrisitanBiasReporting@va.gov, according to the memo.
“Submissions should include sufficient identifiers such as names, dates and locations,” Collins wrote.
Democratic lawmakers were quick to criticize the task force as not based on fact and warned it will elevate one religious faith above others.
“It raises the specter of dividing the veteran community and favoring some religions over others,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. “Since our nation’s birth, veterans have fought and died to preserve our freedoms — including to live free from religious intolerance or interference by government.”
Blumenthal said all veterans regardless of their religion deserve equal respect.
“Secretary Collins continues to demonstrate that his mission at VA is not to serve all veterans or lead all employees — just those who share his ideological views,” said Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calf., the top Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Army veteran Kirt Love of Texas, who advocates for disabled veterans with the VA, said he has concerns about interjecting religion into the work of the VA.
“This is a bad joke. It’s a step backward for the VA. The Trump administration wants to impose its religious beliefs on others. The VA should not be promoting or giving preference to one religious group,” said Love, a disabled combat veteran who served from 1988 to 1992 with deployments to Iraq and Germany.
Collins wrote in the memo that he launched the task force as part of a larger review of the Biden administration’s treatment of Christians.
The VA is seeking reports of “any retaliatory actions taken or threatened [against workers] in response to abstaining from certain procedures or treatments (for example: abortion or hormone therapy),” he wrote.
Since Collins took over as VA secretary, he has phased out hormone therapy and other medical treatments for transgender veterans.
The new VA task force is similar to a task force that the Justice Department formed in February that Trump directed by executive order for addressing anti-Christian discrimination at federal agencies. Collins is a member of that task force, along with other Cabinet members.
“Secretary Collins is carrying out President Trump’s political agenda at the expense of VA’s core mission,” Takano said about the new VA task force. “VA has a sacred duty to every veteran and employee, regardless of their religion, race, gender, sexual orientation or identity.”
Civil liberty groups warned the VA task force and executive order are veiled attempts to promote religious intolerance and undermine civil liberties.
Rachel Laser, chief executive officer of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said if the Trump administration “cared about religious freedom and ending religious persecution, he’d be addressing the antisemitism in his inner circle, anti-Muslim bigotry, hate crimes against people of color and other religious minorities.”
“Instead, he’s abolishing federal programs and protections that address those wrongs,” she said.
