Has Christian discrimination become a bigger issue? What Americans said in poll (2025)

During the inaugural task force against anti-Christian bias in the federal government, meeting attendees cited experiences with what they called “anti-Christian” policies in the government. Examples included being reprimanded for opposing “DEI/LGBT ideology” for religious reasons and fines dealt out to educational institutions for religious views.

The task force meeting came as a result of the Trump administration’s executive order issued in February to “end the anti-Christian weaponization of government,” McClatchy News reported.

But has discrimination against Christians become a bigger problem than discrimination against other groups? Most Americans, 60%, said no, according to an April 29 Public Religion Research Institute poll.

White evangelicals were the only religious group where a majority of people said they believe it is a problem, with 60% saying so, per the poll.

“Americans who most trust far-right TV news sources, 77%, are most likely to say that discrimination against Christians has increased to the same level as discrimination against other groups,” researchers said.

When the Trump administration introduced the executive order, it raised eyebrows as some experts called into question the First Amendment right of religious freedom.

“It’s little ironic to think that the people who are in the majority — and many places in the country, many states who have great political power — are claiming to be under attack, but from their perspective, the government went off the rails ... and disfavored them because they don’t like their views on the social issues,” Charles Haynes, founder of the Freedom Forum’s Religious Freedom Center, told McClatchy News in February.

A majority of Americans, 78%, said they disagree with the establishment of a federal task force centered exclusively on anti-Christian bias — including 66% of white evangelical Protestants, according to the PRRI poll.

Jewish Americans, 89%, and non-religious people, 89%, expressed the most opposition to the establishment of the task force, the poll found.

Large majorities of Black Protestants, white mainline Protestants, Latter-day Saints, white Catholics, Hispanic Catholics, non-Christians and Hispanic Protestants also said the oppose a federal task force focused on discrimination against Christians rather than discrimination against all religions, researchers said.

How have white evangelicals’ experiences with discrimination changed?

Researchers at the Survey Center on American Life said perceptions on experiencing discrimination among white evangelicals have shifted rapidly in the last two decades.

In 2009, 42% said they experienced widespread discrimination. But by 2023, the percentage of white evangelicals that said they were regularly discriminated against was up 18 points from when researchers first asked.