NOTE: This piece was originally published at our newsletter A Public Witness.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration today (March 23) as part of their investigation into government worship services. (I serve as vice chair of AU’s national board of trustees.) The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suits against the Department of Defense and Department of Labor come after the agencies have failed to turn over records sought by AU about the services, including the planning and costs of the services, communications to employees and contractors about the services, transcripts or recordings of services, and any complaints from employees in response to the services.
“The federal government’s role is to serve the public, not to proselytize,” AU President and CEO Rachel Laser said in a statement about the suits. “Secretaries [Pete] Hegseth and [Lori] Chavez-DeRemer are abusing the power of their government positions and taxpayer-funded resources to impose their preferred religion on federal workers. Even if these prayer services are presented as voluntary, there is pressure on federal employees to attend in order to appease their bosses — especially since these services occur amidst the Trump administration’s campaign to punish anyone who doesn’t comply with its Christian Nationalist agenda.”
“We encourage any federal workers who believe a federal agency has violated their religious freedom to contact Americans United at au.org,” she added. “Americans United will not stop fighting for church-state separation and for this nation to live up to its promise of religious freedom for all.”
A Public Witness has documented these government worship services more than any other outlet. This has included discovering who had preached at every Pentagon service, publishing the only report on the November and January Pentagon services, breaking the news about Franklin Graham’s “God of war” remarks at the December Pentagon service, breaking the news about Doug Wilson preaching at the February Pentagon service, publishing the first report on the December Labor service (and the only report based on watching the service), and publishing the only reports on the January, February, and March Labor services. Full coverage can be found at our “Government Worship Watch.”
Screengrab as Franklin Graham preaches at the Christmas Worship Service at the Pentagon on Dec. 17, 2025.
The two lawsuits note that AU filed its FOIA request with both agencies on Dec. 19 in order to learn more about the services, the use of government resources, and communications to government employees. As AU explains in its Defense Department suit, “The requested records will improve public understanding of the Secretary’s Christian Prayer & Worship Services and whether the government is upholding its obligations to remain neutral about religious matters and to respect the religious freedom of its employees, the members of the U.S. military, and its contractors.”
Both departments acknowledged receipt of the FOIA filing but still have not turned over the requested documents, thus violating the law about the release of government records. The lawsuits ask the U.S. courts to find that the agencies violated FOIA and force the release of requested records. AU previously filed FOIA suits against three other agencies during the second Trump administration after the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of State, and Department of Veterans Affairs failed to turn over documents related to actions to combat alleged “anti-Christian bias” within the agencies.
Meanwhile, the government worship services continue. The March service at the Pentagon, which was originally set to occur last week with music by Michael W. Smith, was rescheduled for Wednesday (March 25). The April service at the Labor Department will include a sermon by Rev. Joel Schmidgall, lead pastor at National Community Church, an Assemblies of God congregation in Washington, D.C.
As a public witness,
Brian Kaylor
A Public Witness is a reader-supported publication of Word&Way. To receive new posts and support our journalism ministry, subscribe today.
