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Trump's Faith Office and its Islamophobic pastors

by Ömer Ekrem Keçeci

May 10, 2025 - 12:05 am GMT+3
Paula White, senior advisor to the White House Faith Office, gestures while leading a prayer next to U.S. President Donald Trump and faith leaders, during the National Day of Prayer, in the Rose Garden at the White House, Washington, U.S., May 1, 2025. (Reuters Photo)
Paula White, senior advisor to the White House Faith Office, gestures while leading a prayer next to U.S. President Donald Trump and faith leaders, during the National Day of Prayer, in the Rose Garden at the White House, Washington, U.S., May 1, 2025. (Reuters Photo)
by Ömer Ekrem Keçeci May 10, 2025 12:05 am

Officers of Trump's Faith Office promote evangelical extremism, anti-Islam sentiment and anti-Erdoğan views while supporting Israel's atrocities

One of U.S. President Donald Trump’s first acts in his new term was establishing a Faith Office in the White House. The evangelical-dominated office is staffed entirely by people who see serving Israel as their religion. When he announced that he was establishing the office on Feb. 6, he emphasized his focus on “religious liberty.” Indeed, one of the members, David Barton, promotes the idea that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation, arguing that the separation between church and state is a myth and that America should be run as a Christian nation. Fellow member Samuel Rodriguez also said of the office: “It comes with unprecedented access and an unparalleled commitment to affirming our Judeo-Christian value system.”

Animosity toward Islam

Along with defending Israel at all costs, there is also an open hostility toward Islam among the members of the office. In 2006, the same Rodriguez gave a sermon against Muslims and homosexuals, saying for Christians to rise up against them: "We need prophetic, devil stomping, demon rebuking, blood washed ... Christians!"

But one of the most prominent figures in this matter is Robert Jeffress, who delivered the opening prayer after Trump's decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem and is one of his long-standing supporters. In the sermon he gave on Nov. 15, 2015, following the terrorist attack in Paris, he said that the "evil, evil religion of Islam" was responsible for terrorism and blathered the following: "Islam is a false religion and it is inspired by Satan himself ... These terrorists were not acting in opposition to the teaching of Islam. They were acting according to the teaching of Islam ... The Quran, the book of Muslims, is laced with verse after verse that say kill the infidels, that people like you and me... Mohammad, the founder of Islam, was a prince of war; he slaughtered thousands ... If we do not confront and defeat the evil of radical Islam, the evil of radical Islam is going to confront and defeat us. It is time for our government to step up and do whatever is necessary militarily to rid this world of the cancer called radical Islam.”

Other than these despicable lies, he also said this at another time: “Islam is a religion that promotes paedophilia.”

But this extremely ignorant and dim-witted creature is doing the very things he falsely accuses Islam of doing. He supported Israel's ongoing genocide with all his might and even made a sycophantic program with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In his sermon on Nov. 12, 2023, he said the following: “The conflict you see in the Middle East right now, it’s been a conflict for 4,000 years, has been over who owns that piece of real estate. God says it belongs to Israel ... This land belongs to Israel and although she doesn’t own all of it right now, one day she will ... If you’re arguing against the land belonging to Israel, you’re arguing against the Word of God himself.”

In the continuation of the sermon, Jeffress said, “Everybody who is opposed to the Jewish people has been destroyed by God,” and also used the sentence “if we turn back on Israel, God will remove his hand of blessing from our beloved country.” In short, Trump's favorite pastor believes that to save their country from destruction and to go to heaven, they must slavishly support the Jewish slaughter of people, including babies.

Executive director of the Center of Baptist Leadership, William Wolfe, also tweeted on March 31: “If you’re wishing a ‘blessing Eid al-Fitr’ to Muslims, you’re an enemy of Western Civilization.”

Hatred for Erdoğan, Türkiye

There is also a sense of particular hostility toward President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan among members. Gary Bauer wrote in an article on his website called “American Values” right after the June 7, 2015, elections, “Erdoğan Loses, Turkey Wins.” Bauer, who wrote that Erdoğan, whom he sees as an “anti-Israeli Islamist,” is trying to bring back the Ottoman Empire and wave the flag of Islam in Jerusalem again, openly celebrated not getting what he wanted in the election. He clearly reflected with his statements that he wanted a Türkiye that was weak and submitted to Israel.

In his article following the July 15 coup attempt, he expressed his sadness at the failure of the coup. Ironically, he says that Erdoğan is undermining democracy. In the article, he says, Erdoğan "is an Islamist who is building his own caliphate, hoping to recreate the Ottoman Empire,” and complains that he's accelerating the Islamization of Türkiye, which also reveals his sadness about why he could not be brought down.

In his Facebook post in support of pastor Andrew Brunson, who was arrested by Türkiye on a charge of aiding terrorism, he wrote, “Erdoğan rules Turkey like a sultan of old, and has moved his nation away from the West and toward Islamism.” All of his statements show that his hostility toward Erdoğan also stems from his hostility toward Islam. As a matter of fact, Bauer is someone who has expressed in veiled terms that they are at war with Islam. Also, he is the head of Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Action Fund, the lobbying arm of the same organization.

The aforementioned Wolfe claimed in 2023 that the Ottomans had fought against the Armenians for centuries and that there was a threat of genocide again. Another member, Jim Garlow, is someone who claimed that the Turks committed genocide against the Armenians and now they are helping the Azeris commit genocide. When Türkiye launched Operation Peace Spring against terrorist elements, it released a special five-minute video and called for prayers for "the Kurds" during this “horrific moment,” and it wrongly claimed "Kurds" passionately love Israel. Garlow, who traveled to various countries including Türkiye, also wrote the lie that the Ottomans oppressed the Greeks and Albanians for centuries. When a follower wrote, “The Middle East was better off under the rule of the Turkish Ottomans,” Garlow, who shamelessly claimed the oppression of Israelis by “Arab Muslim terrorists,” responded with the following: “God has precedence over the Ottoman Empire. ‘To you and your descendants I give this land.’ The Jews don’t occupy the land. They own it.” In brief, Garlow, who cannot deny that the Ottoman period was better, only advocates obedience to the Jews out of blind faith.

Paula White, who was appointed president of this group full of brazenness and hypocrisy, seems fit for the job with her obscenely lavish lifestyle and scandals. While many Christians declared her a charlatan and a heretic, she had an exclusive interview with Netanyahu on Feb. 4, which was "an incredible honor" for her.

After scrutiny, one can say that this is not the Faith but the Deception Office. It seems to operate on behalf of Israel to drive the American servant insane.

About the author
Researcher, holder of a master's degree in history, specializes in British and American political history
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