For Americans who expect the government to remain neutral on matters of faith, leaving religious decisions to Americans without political interference, Donald Trump’s second term has been unsettling.

Federal agencies are pushing overt Christian messaging to the public while inundating federal workers with religious communications. Powerful cabinet secretaries have abandoned all subtlety in their embrace of Christian nationalism. Republican officials at the state level have passed laws to impose the Ten Commandments in public schools.

The vice president has insisted that the United States is a “Christian nation,” raising unavoidable questions about whether people of minority faiths or no religious beliefs have been relegated to second-class citizenship. The president, who has claimed the ability to inform the public about God’s wishes and who has implored Americans to gather in groups of 10 to hold weekly prayers ahead of the celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary, recently used his social media platform to promote an image that appeared to present himself as some kind of American Jesus.

If it seems as if Team Trump and its allies are opposed to the separation of church and state, it’s probably because it’s been quite explicit in its rejection of the constitutional principle. My MS NOW colleague Ja’han Jones highlighted the final hearing of the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission, which didn’t appear focused on religious liberty.

To give you a sense of the tone, the commission’s chairman, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, went on a rant calling the separation of church and state ‘the biggest lie that’s been told in America since our founding.’ Each speaker after him parroted a similar line, framing liberals as some kind of threat to free religious expression.

To be sure, for those familiar with the religious right political movement and the rhetoric of the radical televangelists who helped create the movement, the lieutenant governor’s comments were certainly familiar. Assorted radicals and extremists have peddled the same line for years.

The separation of church and state, however, is not a “lie”; it’s a bedrock principle of our system of government. In fact, I’d refer Patrick to the First Amendment, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

According to Thomas Jefferson, those 16 words created a “wall of separation between church and state” — and he’s a bit more credible in this area than the Texas Republican.

But taking this one step further, the question for Trump’s commission members is simple: If Patrick and other Republican officials reject the idea of church-state separation, and want to excise the principle from our legal system, what exactly is their alternative?

If GOP policymakers are against the idea of government neutrality on matters of faith, it’s incumbent on them to elaborate on their preferred model. Do they envision a theocracy along the lines of Iran? Do they support a governmental system in which politicians base policy decisions on their interpretations of religious doctrines? Should those who are not religious or are members of minority traditions expect to be penalized by their own government?

These need not be rhetorical questions. If the White House’s so-called Religious Liberty Commission wants to flaunt its opposition to the First Amendment, it should be prepared to offer its proposal for what should come next.

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