Rachel Laser’s USCIRF appointment brings church-state separation back to the table

Rachel Laser’s appointment to the government's religious freedom commission offers a serious counterweight to Christian Nationalist influence

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A leader in the church/state separation movement has just been appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, marking a welcome addition to a group that should be entirely full of advocates for religious freedom but, more recently, has been led by opponents of it.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser (screenshot via YouTube)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) nominated Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser to the nine-member commission this week with a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it notice in the Congressional Record:

A more formal announcement came after that:

Laser currently serves as President and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. A lawyer and advocate, she has worked extensively on issues related to civil rights, religious freedom, and the separation of church and state. She previously served as deputy director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and held senior roles at Third Way and the National Women’s Law Center. Laser is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Chicago Law School.

“We welcome Rachel’s appointment to the Commission,” said USCIRF Vice Chair Asif Mahmood. “We look forward to her joining the Commission and adding her expertise to our work to further secure religious freedom for all abroad.”

In case you’re not familiar with the USCIRF, it includes members appointed by both major parties. That means there are typically some wonderful advocates of religious freedom… along with a handful of extremists from conservative circles who usually act like government neutrality on the topic of religion amounts to Christian oppression. (Traditionally, the president chooses three members, the president’s party’s leaders in Congress choose another two, and the opposition party’s leaders in Congress choose the final four.)

Each commissioner is appointed for a two-year term and may be eligible for another term after that.

The group’s main purpose is to weigh in on religious freedom around the world and make policy recommendations to sitting lawmakers, so those right-wing members tend to sound normal when they speak on behalf of the group. After all, the USCIRF isn’t meant to be a platform for those members to spew hate. Among other things, the USCIRF releases an annual report naming certain places “Countries of Particular Concern” because of their continued opposition to true religious freedom. They also suggest countries that the State Department should watch out for because they’re heading in that direction.

A page from the USCIRF’s 2025 report

Those recommendations may influence how the State Department interacts with leaders of those nations or groups. So this isn’t merely symbolic. It’s a way to spread the laudable goal of religious freedom around the world.

That means you want people on the committee who are known for defending religious freedom for everyone, not merely promoting their own views. The USCIRF condemns antisemitism, yes, but also anti-Muslim bias. And last year, the group recommended our country sign onto a statement condemning “persecution of atheist and non-practicing individuals,” which we eventually did.

That work is important, but it’s sometimes overshadowed based on who gets selected to be on what’s supposed to be an independent bipartisan group.

In 2018, for example, Sen. Mitch McConnell nominated Christian hate-group leader Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council to the USCIRF. At the time, his nomination was condemned by several groups who had personally seen the harm he inflicts upon others with his faith.

“Tony Perkins is the most recognizable anti-LGBTQ activist in America. He has espoused the most extreme views of LGBTQ people and other vulnerable communities,” Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD, said in a statement. “The idea that Perkins would be making policy recommendations to an administration that is already anti-LGBTQ is dangerous and puts LGBTQ people directly in harm’s way.”

…

“Perkins specializes in spreading false propaganda that demonizes the LGBT community and Muslims,” [the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Heidi] Beirich said. “Perkins’ idea of ‘religious freedom’ is having the freedom to discriminate against entire groups of people he doesn’t like. His well-documented bigotry has no place in any government entity.”

The following year, Perkins was elected chair of the organization, a move that was further criticized by people who actually fight for religious freedom. Rabbi Jack Moline, who was the president of Interfaith Alliance at the time, said Perkins “has no place on a commission designed to protect religious freedom at home or abroad.”

How can Perkins be trusted to stand against religious persecution at a time when people in this country and around the world are being killed because of their faith, while still working for an organization that devalues the realities of persecution by continually asserting that evangelical Christians are “under attack” in this country?

…

Instead of accepting this twisted definition of religious freedom, Americans ought to see Tony Perkins for who he is: a right-wing figure who has dedicated his life to pushing for the legalization of discrimination – particularly against the LGBTQ community.

Congress ought to reverse Perkins’ appointment. Anything less is an affront to the Constitution, damaging the separation between religion and government at the expense of both.

I shared that sentiment. As far as I could tell, though, Perkins’ personal bigotry didn’t interfere with the group’s mission. In fact, that same year, the USCIRF called for the immediate release of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was imprisoned for alleged “apostasy” in the Islamic nation… though Perkins wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the group’s press release despite being chair at the time.

Perkins remained on the USCIRF until 2022. (After his stint as chair, he became vice chair, then just stayed on as a regular member of the commission for his final year.)

Separately from that, Southern Baptist leader Albert Mohler flipped out when Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, a lesbian, was nominated to the group in 2021. But the drama in that situation was relatively muted because Kleinbaum was a perfectly fine selection.

But last year, that drama was back in full force after Speaker Mike Johnson nominated former Rep. Vicky Hartzler to the USCIRF.

Hartzler, who represented a Missouri district from 2011-2023, was one of the most anti-LGBTQ lawmakers to ever serve in Congress. She became famous for opposing marriage equality in her state (long before Obergefell)—helping pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. She said at the time that gay marriage was just like polygamy and incest, and that gay couples didn’t deserve equal rights just as “it’s not a right of a three-year old to drive a car.”

Some people say “Why does it matter to you as a government official? If I
care about somebody else, I’m committed! I should be able to marry!”

Well, think about it. That starts you down the road to opening up licensure to basically… meaning that the license would mean nothing.

If you let everybody with that standard… for instance, you know… If you just
care about somebody, have a committed relationship, why not allow one man
and two women or three women to marry?

There are a lot of people in this country that support polygamy. Why not? If they’re
committed to each other, why should you care?

Why not allow group marriage? There are people out there who want that! I think it’s called polyamory…

Well, is that the best policy? Why not allow an uncle to marry his niece? Why not allow a 50-year-old man to marry a 12-year-old girl if they love each other and they’re committed?

So pretty soon if you don’t set parameters, you don’t have any parameters at all, a license means nothing, and marriage means nothing... if it’s their right to marry whoever they want.

But we’re saying marriage is between a man and a woman. So… there’s a difference there. But it’s not a right in the Constitution, as far as that goes either. It’s not a right… of a three-year-old to be able to drive a car.

You know, the government has to set some parameters that they think is is correct

(She later claimed her comments were “misconstrued” and that she really meant to compare same-sex marriage to 13-year-olds wanting to drive a car. You see? Not three-year-olds.)

Once she was in Congress, her anti-gay bigotry continued. When “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” was repealed, allowing openly gay soldiers to serve in the military without punishment, Hartzler said gay soldiers should have to sleep separately from straight ones.

More than a decade later, she broke into tears while complaining about a bill that would protect same-sex marriages by repealing the (badly named) Defense of Marriage Act which defined marriage as between a man and woman. At that point, even her own nephew, Andrew Hartzler, called out her faith-based hate:

In the video, Andrew Hartzler said his aunt was crying “because gay people like me can get married”. He added: “So despite coming out to my aunt this past February I guess she’s still just as much as a homophobe.”

…

“It’s more like you want the power to force your religious beliefs on to everyone else, and because you don’t have that power, you feel like you’re being silenced,” Andrew Hartzler said to his aunt on his video. “But you’re not. You’re just going have to learn to coexist with all of us. And I’m sure it’s not that hard.”

That bill simply protected the rights of gay people; it didn’t force her to accept them. But she still opposed it because she believed her religious beliefs should dictate other people’s lives. Was she really the best person to pick to advance religious freedom?

That wasn’t the only example of her opposition to religious equality either. In 2011, after the Air Force Academy dedicated a new space for pagans and witches and other “Earth-based” religions to worship, Hartzler called it “crazy” that the military would spend any amount of money for these “fringe religions.”

“Christianity is the main religion in our country,” she said to, of all people, Tony Perkins.

PERKINS: Do you see this as a part of a growing trend, that we see, that there is really kind of a marginalization of Christianity and… almost a promotion of other forms of, I would have to say, fringe religions?

HARTZLER: I agree, I think so… Christianity is the main religion in our country and, as a policy for the Department of Defense, I mean, we need to defend the practice of religion, but we do not have to obligate taxpayer funds to facilitate it or accommodate it or pay for it.

…

PERKINS: And what we’ve seen happen is, there has been this effort to, as I mentioned a minute ago, to marginalize Christianity while promoting other religions, as if the government has to be the equalizer. And I want to ask you about that. As a congresswoman, as one who understands the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, is it the government’s role to try to put all religions on the same plane?

HARTZLER: No, it’s not their role at all. I mean, their role is to facilitate basic policy for our country and to not to try to lift up one religion over the other. They should be defending the basic rights that we have, that freedom of religion here, and certainly not facilitating or accommodating fringe religions. I mean, it’s crazy.

(For what it’s worth, when they recorded that, the Air Force Academy had just spent $3.5 million to build a chapel on campus to accommodate major religions like Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism as well as smaller faiths.)

After leaving Congress, Hartzler continued pushing her insane views. Just last year, she blasted schools that teach kids “mindfulness” and “yoga” because she said those were based in Buddhism and Hinduism. If schools really wanted to help kids who have mental health issues, she argued, they don’t need meditation. They need Jesus.

… I say if they want kids to stop having mental health [issues], they shouldn’t have kept them out of school for two years during COVID. They should quit telling them that they can change their gender identities. They should tell them that Jesus loves them, and has a plan and purpose for their life. That’s the answer to mental health problems with our kids.

That’s who Vicky Hartzler is: A conservative ideologue who sees everything as Christian persecution and who can’t conceive of a country where other religions are treated with the same respect as her own.

That’s the Vicky Hartzler who was appointed to the group meant to protect religious freedom around the world.

And that’s the Vicky Hartzler who was then chosen to be that group’s new leader.

Vicky Hartzler (screenshot via YouTube)

In June, the USCIRF announced that Hartzler would chair the organization over the next year:

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today elected Vicky Hartzler as its Chair for 2025-2026…

“USCIRF is a vital part of the United States foreign policy efforts to promote religious freedom. This human right is enshrined in both our own constitution and in international law, but even more fundamentally it is etched in the heart of every person,” said Chair Hartzler, “It is an honor to serve as chair, and I will work with Vice Chair Mahmood and the other Commissioners continuing our bipartisan efforts to advance this right for everyone and everywhere abroad. I am grateful to outgoing Chair Stephen Schneck and Vice Chair Meir Soloveichik for their staunch and compassionate leadership. I also extend my thanks to former Commissioner Susie Gelman for her work and whose term concluded this past month.”

It was genuinely hard for me to imagine a worse spokesperson for the cause of religious freedom around the world than a Christian zealot who has spent her career undermining religious freedom in the United States. Whenever other people’s beliefs came into conflict with her own faith, Hartzler used her power as a lawmaker to keep those other religions down. It was never enough to oppose their beliefs personally; she wanted her faith (and only her faith) to replace secular laws. She treated neutrality as oppression. She saw criticism of her beliefs as a personal threat.

How could any other country take her supposed support for religious freedom seriously when they could simply point to her own past statements as evidence for why they should impose their will on minority faiths? How could she say, with a straight face, that other countries needed to respect religious minorities and stop persecuting them when she herself had always been the one persecuting religious minorities? A Christian Nationalist who has repeatedly dismissed and legislated against the wishes of non-Christians has no right telling other countries to respect religious minorities.

All that said, since becoming chair of the USCIRF, I’ll admit I haven’t seen evidence of Hartzler using that role to advance her personal agenda. And the fact that Rachel Laser is now on the commission means there will at least be a check on her authority. It was bizarre, in fact, to see Hartzler’s gracious comments about Laser’s appointment:

“It is important to have as many people in the fight as possible to stand for all those around the world who are suffering violations of their religious freedom,” said USCIRF Chair Vicky Hartzler. “I look forward to Rachel Laser working with us as we continue to be a voice for those who suffer at the hands of the worst religious freedom violators.”

That’s the sort of comment that would be appalling to the Vicky Hartzler who was in Congress for over a decade. But… yay? Progress?

Americans United didn’t mention Hartzler in their press release, rightly focusing instead on the elevation of one of their own to this prestigious post:

“I’m grateful to Sen. Schumer for this opportunity to advocate for religious freedom around the globe,” said Laser. “As the leader of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, I defend our country’s constitutional promise of church-state separation – the shield that protects the freedom of everyone to live as themselves and believe as they choose, as long as they don’t harm others. Because AU’s mission is grounded in the U.S. Constitution, our organization’s work is domestically focused. By joining the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in my personal capacity, I look forward to expanding my advocacy for religious freedom on an international scale.

“Both on a personal level as a religious minority, and a professional level as Americans United’s CEO, I am honored to have the opportunity to help our government fight religious extremism and protect everyone’s freedom to believe, or not, as they choose,” Laser added.

Leaders from Humanist groups in the U.S. and internationally praised the selection as well:

Maggie Ardiente, President of Humanists International, commented:

“Rachel is an outstanding choice for USCIRF and a proven leader in the fight for freedom of religion and belief for all. Her expertise and unwavering commitment to the separation of church and state are needed to effectively advance freedom of religion or belief internationally. She has demonstrated unwavering dedication to protecting freedom of religion or belief, and fostering inclusive partnerships with humanists, atheists, and secular individuals, alongside religious allies. We are confident she will be a strong voice for both people of faith and the non-religious on the Commission. We are excited to continue working alongside her in this crucial capacity.”

Nick Fish, President of American Atheists, commented:

“American Atheists commends Senator Schumer for selecting Rachel Laser to serve on USCIRF. At a time when religious nationalism is on the rise both in the United States and around the world, it is especially vital—and urgent—that religious minorities and the nonreligious are represented by a commissioner with Rachel’s clarity, courage, and commitment to religious equality as the best guarantee of freedom of religion and belief. She has always been and will continue to be a powerful defender of these freedoms for all people—believers, humanists, and atheists alike. Her experience as a civil rights advocate and her steadfast support for church-state separation make her an invaluable addition to the Commission. This appointment sends a clear message: We both need and deserve far more leaders who, like Rachel, prioritize pluralism and practice tolerance—and far fewer of those who would force their views on others and punish those who dissent. We look forward to continuing to work with Rachel as she lends her voice and vision to protect and advance human rights here and abroad.”

Fish Stark, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association, commented:

“Rachel’s appointment to USCIRF is an incredibly welcome development. With her commitment to the principle of separation of church and state and freedom of belief for all, Rachel is the exact kind of leader we humanists trust to represent us in the halls of power. She is a proven, tenacious advocate, and we are confident that her perspective will be invaluable in guiding USCIRF’s critical work.”

Laser told me yesterday that she didn’t ask to be nominated for the position, but she accepted it after it was offered to her. (I’m not sure how Schumer got her name.) Given that the chair of the USCIRF alternates between Republicans and Democrats, it’s possible she could one day be in the position Hartzler currently holds. For now, though, it’s exciting to have her voice at the table.

Incidentally, political leaders from both major parties have never appointed the leader of an atheist group to the commission—or an open atheist, period. (Laser is Jewish.) That’s obviously not a huge deal since religious people can be wonderful advocates for religious freedom and church/state separation, but it’s interesting that even when they nominate someone from our neck of the woods, it’s still someone with a religious background.

For what it’s worth, there are currently seven commissioners on the USCIRF with two open slots. Four of them, including Laser, are Democratic appointees. That shouldn’t really matter given the bipartisan nature of the group, but there’s no aspect of government Republicans won’t turn into a culture war battle. With Laser now joining the group, you have to wonder if Republicans will retaliate by pushing more Christian Nationalists on there.

(Portions of this article were published earlier)

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