Virginia’s faith communities are feeling the impact of the Trump administration’s first six weeks in office. Some are praising his efforts while others are reeling.
The wide range of reactions is inspiring hope in some and fear and litigation in others, as executive orders signed early in President Donld Trump’s second term begin to take shape.
“God created every person in his image, both male and female. And that informs how we believe about how society ought to be structured,” Josh Hetzler, legal counsel with the conservative Christian Family Foundation of Virginia, told Radio IQ in an interview Thursday.
Hetzler is grateful for President Donald Trump's executive orders that he said addressed concerns with “gender ideology, restoring biological truth, keeping men out of women’s sport and keeping radical indoctrination out of public schools.”
The actions, rolling back early protections for transgender Americans, align with his group’s desire to see their religious freedoms protected.
As for future action, he hopes Trump will continue his first administration’s trend of appointing judges he called “constitutionalists.”
“Trump has appointed judges who will get the law right and protect people of faith, like counselors,” he said, mentioning a recent dispute taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court which could overturn bans on conversion therapy, controversial treatments that aim to change someone’s sexual orientation, for minors. Hetzler is currently representing a Christian Counselor who's suing Virginia for its ban on the practice.
But Richmond Friends Meeting, local Quakers who’ve called the state’s capital city their home since the 1700s, say Trump is violating their religious freedom.
“The idea that there might be ICE agents bursting in at any moment, or sitting outside of meeting, would not allow us to practice our religion in a meaningful manner,” Richmond Friends Clerk Roni Kingsley told Radio IQ.
Kingsley and her fellow Quakers sued Homeland Security shortly after Trump took office and the department rolled back a policy that stopped immigration agents from entering churches. In late February, a judge granted their request to block such enforcement, and the order remains in place.
“We believe there is God in every person… there’s something divine in every single person,” she said. ”You don’t treat people that way. To say someone is illegal is very offensive.”
And Commonwealth Catholic Charities, known as CCC, had to stop many of their refugee resettlement services across Virginia after federal funding was cut. The program lost $750,000 in reimbursements from the government for expenses already incurred for client support, rental assistance, and staffing costs.
Kristen Larcher directs what remains of the program. Some funds to support the children of refugees survived, but she said they laid off 35 employees, half of their staff, because of the cuts.
“It’s been a really, really sad 6 weeks. The situation is pretty forlorn at this point,” Larcher told Radio IQ Thursday.
The group’s immigration work started with the Catholic Diocese of Richmond in the 1980s until 2010, when CCC took over the program. The U.S. refugee resettlement program as it’s known today began in 1980; CCC and/or the Diocese has been involved since the beginning.
But Trump ceased refugee resettlement, and most federal funds associated with it, in the US shortly after taking office.
“Imagine showing up in a new country, after being in refugee processing for years, and being told you can’t get help anymore. No case manager, no financial assistance, the things you were told you’d get to help start your life in the US,” Larcher said about recent arrivals into the program who are not thrust into a system that’s no longer funded.
She said Catholic teachings include the principles of solidarity and human dignity: “All humans in this world are part of one human family who are trying to pursue justice and peace”
Larcher said they’ve managed to make up some of the lost funds with additional fundraising efforts.
Still, she’s worried about those who are bound by what she called CCC's humanitarian promise to ‘help thy neighbor.’
“I couldn’t imagine the cruelty of hosting refugees, the world's most vulnerable people who have been persecuted to the nth degree, to bring them here with lawful permanent residence, and then withdraw it,” she said of fears that the Trump administration may go a step further and seek to remove those CCC welcomed. “We haven’t heard anything about that so far, but this administration is mercurial.”
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
