“On All Saints’ Day, I join Christians across our Nation in honoring the men and women through the centuries whose extraordinary lives of faithfulness reveal the great goodness and love to which human beings can aspire,” President Trump wrote in his All Saints’ Day message on November 1.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a Wisconsin-based group representing atheists and agnostics, attacked Trump on November 2 for turning his presidential messages on Christian holidays into what it called “Christian sermons.” The group singled out his praise for St. Junípero Serra. FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor said Trump is “not pastor-in-chief of a Christian congregation.”
In his message, Trump said the names of saints are “interwoven throughout the American landscape” and added, “we especially honor Saint Junípero Serra, who carried the Christian faith through the missions of California.”
Trump also named St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, “who helped build Catholic education in America,” and St. Katharine Drexel, “who devoted her fortune and her life to educating and serving poor and impoverished communities.” He wrote that “a great civilization needs more than material success. It needs examples of goodness,” and pledged, “I will always defend the freedom of Americans to express their faith openly and without fear.”
FFRF objected to Trump presenting Christianity as central to American identity and government. In its release, the group urged him to “stop using official presidential communications to promote Christian nationalism.”
FFRF previously sued President Barack Obama over the National Day of Prayer and lost. Federal law requires the president to proclaim the observance each year. Under the statute, “The President shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.” Congress passed the original law on April 17, 1952, and designated the first Thursday in May in 1988.
On April 14, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit dismissed FFRF’s challenge, ruling that the group lacked standing to sue. Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote that “hurt feelings differ from legal injury” and that “a feeling of alienation cannot suffice as injury in fact.” Addressing Obama’s proclamation, which called on citizens “to pray, or otherwise give thanks,” Easterbrook wrote, “The President has made a request; he has not issued a command.” He added, “No one is injured by a request that can be declined,” and “The Judicial Branch does not censor a President’s speech.”
FFRF has also sued the Trump administration. On May 4, 2017, the group challenged Trump’s religious liberty executive order, arguing that it allowed religious nonprofits to campaign for political candidates while keeping their tax exemptions. FFRF voluntarily dismissed the case on December 13, 2017, after the government stated in court filings that the order did not prevent enforcement of the Johnson Amendment, which bars churches and other tax-exempt nonprofits from endorsing political candidates.
On October 13, 2026, FFRF filed a public records lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act against the Interior Department and the National Park Service. Filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., the suit seeks records concerning taxpayer funding of religious events tied to America’s 250th anniversary.
Serra, the saint FFRF named, was a Spanish Franciscan priest who founded nine of California’s 21 missions in the eighteenth century. Pope Francis canonized him in Washington, D.C., on September 23, 2015, in the first canonization held on U.S. soil.
In June 2020, protesters tore down a statue of Serra in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park and toppled another in Los Angeles. California’s Catholic bishops said the protesters had “failed the test of history.”
Presidential messages invoking God date back to George Washington. His Thanksgiving Proclamation of October 3, 1789, declared that “it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.”
Trump closed his All Saints’ Day message by saying he hoped the saints’ lives would inspire Americans “to live with the faith, courage, and charity that make a people—and a nation—forever great.”
Ad block users: Some site features may not work correctly while an ad blocker is enabled, because they break scripts and content this website depends on. If you can’t see comments below, for example, please disable your ad blocker.
