State Department wants staff to report instances of alleged anti-Christian bias during Biden's term

WASHINGTON — As the Christian world commemorates Holy Week leading up to Easter Sunday, the State Department has issued an appeal for its employees to report instances of alleged anti-Christian bias, including formal or informal actions due to opposition to vaccines or personal pronoun choice, that may have occurred during the Biden administration.

The call comes amid heightened fear and anxiety in the American diplomatic corps, which is bracing for a new update on the Department of Government Efficiency -inspired budget and staff cuts that is due to be presented to the White House on Monday. That update is expected to include the State Department's latest estimates of voluntary retirements and separations and how those will affect potential future layoffs to meet benchmarks from Elon Musk's DOGE and the government's human resources agency, according to officials familiar with the process.

In an unexpected move, Pete Marocco, a Trump administration political appointee who oversaw the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, has left the State Department, the officials said. He had moved to State as the director of foreign assistance in March after the remaining USAID programs were shifted under the department.

Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters at the time that Marocco was filling ''an indispensable role in aligning all U.S. government foreign assistance with the president's priorities.''

But in confirming Marocco's departure on Sunday, the officials said Marocco left after completing the job he was brought on board to do, which was to dismantle USAID.

The update to be presented Monday also is expected to add clarity to plans to fold any surviving USAID programs into the department.

But these officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said the update to the White House Office of Personnel Management would not be the final word on the reorganization of the State Department. And, they denied speculation among the rank and file that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had refused to sign off on the document.

While foreign and civil service employees await word on their futures, the State Department has moved ahead with an initiative aimed at rooting out religious bias in its policies and hiring practices with a specific emphasis on anti-Christian activity that may have occurred under President Joe Biden.

There is no immediate indication that such discrimination, as defined by President Donald Trump's State Department, took place under Biden.

In a cable sent Friday to all U.S. diplomatic missions, Rubio asked that staffers report any perceived discriminatory actions taken against Christians or employees advocating on their behalf between January 2021 and January 2025. The cable, copies of which were obtained by The Associated Press, says that all reported allegations will be investigated by a government-wide task force on anti-Christian bias and if discrimination is found the culprits may be disciplined. It also makes clear that allegations can be submitted anonymously.

''The task force will collect information and ideas from individuals and groups, including Department employees, affected by anti-Christian bias or other religious discriminatory conduct,'' the cable says.

''The task force is soliciting examples of anti-religious bias, particularly from the past four years, where the Department targeted anyone for their religion, including discrimination, harassment, exclusion, disciplinary action, adverse security clearance determinations, or any other adverse action, or in retaliation for exercising their religious rights,'' the cable said. ''This includes anti-religious bias committed by department employees in their official duties against members of the public.''

Examples of potential violations include formal or informal actions taken against a person because they requested religious accommodation ''from taking mandatory vaccines or observing religious holidays '' and ''mistreatment for refusing to participate in events and activities that promoted themes inconsistent with or hostile to one's religious beliefs, including policies or practices related to preferred personal pronouns,'' according to the cable.

Others include ''mistreatment for opposing displays of flags, banners or other paraphernalia on or in government facilities because of religious objection or for opposing official media content due to religious objections, forcing employees to remove personal displays of religious faith or conscience, whether as part of clothing/accessories items on desks or in personal workspace,'' the cable said.

In non-governmental chat groups and elsewhere, some State Department employees expressed alarm over the cable, particularly as it was issued shortly after the promotion of a junior foreign service officer to temporarily run the department's human resources office, the Bureau of Global Talent Management.

Lew Olowski assumed that job last week and in his first comments to employees gave a welcome address to a new class of incoming diplomats that cited both biblical verses and religiously themed quotes from President Abraham Lincoln.

After swearing in the new class with the oath to Constitution, Olowski told them: ''Oaths and words are different. Words are for talking. Dolphins can talk. Oaths are covenants. Animals do not covenant. Only God and man can make covenants.''

''To an officer of the United States like you and me, the Constitution is our commandment. Its words are like the word of God and the words of the oath are our creation as officers,'' he said, according to a transcript of his remarks.

''And these words are our beginning. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God,'' he said, before praising foreign service officers who have died while in service to the country.

In a perhaps unusual coincidence, reports of anti-Christian or other religious bias are to be reported to Olowski's wife, Heather, who is the head of the State Department's office of civil rights.

Last week, the American Foreign Service Association, which represents U.S. diplomats, and the American Academy of Diplomacy said Olowski's appointment was an affront to the long-held standard that the post be occupied by either a current senior or retired career diplomat. His numerous pro-Trump and anti-immigrant writings in conservative publications over the past several years had been been widely shared among internal group chats.

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Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Jerusalem contributed to this report.