Yesterday, the President's Religious Liberty Commission held its final hearing, focusing on the past, present and future of religious liberty in America. The 5-hour hearing (video of full hearing) was again held at the Museum of the Bible. The Department of Justice press release reporting on the hearing lists ten witnesses who testified. The press release also quotes the Commission's Chairman:
“Today’s capstone hearing of President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission contained more powerful testimony and discussion about how people of religion are under assault by the secular left," said Chairman Dan Patrick. "It is time to set the record straight: there is no such thing as ‘separation of church and state’ in the Constitution. For too long, the anti-God left has used this phrase to suppress people of religion in our country. During all 7 Commission hearings, witness after witness testified that the so-called ‘separation of church and state’ was used to take their God-given religious liberty rights away. Next month, the Commission will deliver our recommendations to President Trump to ensure that Americans’ religious liberty is safeguarded against evil forces seeking to suppress them in our country.”
RNS reports on the hearing. The report quotes a question that Commission Chairman Patrick directed to law professor Helen Alvaré: "Would it not be a good recommendation that every school, every university, every business, has to have that one sheet on the bulletin board about protecting people’s religious liberty, and that the separation of church and state is the biggest lie that’s been told in America since our founding?”