Testimony heard during the U.S. Department of Justice’s Religious Liberty Commission’s final hearing on April 13, 2026, brought together officials, legal experts, and faith leaders to review current challenges facing religious liberty and propose future policy directions for the U.S. administration. Law professor Helen Alvaré, a Vatican-connected official and member of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, pushed for closer cooperation between the U.S. government and churches to instill moral values in society.
She also called for an end to the “fear and neuralgia” about religion being involved in government spaces—especially public schools—and emphasized the need to promote the “beauty” of the common good. That is Roman Catholicism being advocated in a DOJ forum that seeks to propose enforcement policies in the United States. Truly, efforts are being made to create an image of the papal beast of Bible prophecy here in America.
According to the bio published by the DOJ, Helen Alvare is a Professor of Law at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and is a “member of the Holy See’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life” in Vatican City. She also serves as a board member of Catholic Relief Services. She previously taught law at the Catholic University of America and has represented the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops before legislative bodies. [1]
Helen Alvaré expressed the following during the Religious Liberty Commission’s final hearing:
• “In fact, Religions can be among the governments greatest partners and allies in fostering the ideals and values that our public institutions, including public schools, hope to instill” (Video).
This statement essentially argues that religion can serve as the greatest partner for advancing government goals — especially in shaping moral values within society and its institutions, such as public schools. It would create a shared mission between religion and government and calls for a greater religious presence in public education and other government institutions. Once religion becomes the “partner” of the state, this raises the question: whose religion gets represented? Clearly, Rome is pushing for its own policies to shape young minds through academia and is seeking greater religious influence in law and society.
Helen Alvare then makes the following statement:
• “We need to get rid of the fear and neuralgia about keeping religion out but that has to begun at a very early stage, I think, and schools are a good place to do it” (Video).
This statement is an open call to change how society thinks about religion in public life — starting with children. Helen Alvaré is saying that we have been too cautious and overly fearful about keeping religion out of government, especially public schools. She believes this fear needs to end quickly and without hesitation so that society must get used to religion having a visible role in our public institutions.
But the most revealing part of the strategy is that they want to begin at an early stage—the public schools. Basically, they want to expose children to religion and normalize the idea of church-state cooperation from a young age. The message is clear: as a society, we need to stop resisting religion in public institutions, especially our schools.
Helen Alvare concludes by saying the following:
• “The witness we are seeking to preserve is beautiful and good for the common good” (Video).
This is pure Roman Catholic social teaching being advocated in the U.S. Department of Justice. Religion is being presented not only as something spiritually beneficial but as part of the common good for all of society. In this context, religion is something that should be promoted and integrated into every facet of public life. They do not want religion relegated to the outer margins of the federal government. They want it at the very heart of our government and its institutions, because they see it as a moral force that strengthens the nation.
Here is the problem: This is not anything new. For generations throughout American history, misguided and radicalized Christian nationalists have always sought to inject religion into public life. It always starts with religion in public schools, but it never ends there. The movement to Christianize our nation is always closely connected with efforts to enforce Sunday observance.
In the following statement, Ellen G. White, a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, warned that a deliberate plan would be set in motion to shape both education and Sunday observance through law:
“In our own country there is much to be done. There are many cities to be entered and warned. Evangelists should be finding their way into all the places where the minds of men are agitated over the question of Sunday legislation and the teaching of religion in the public schools. It is the neglect of Seventh-day Adventists to improve these providential opportunities that is hindering the advancement of the cause” (Testimonies, Vol. 9, p. 51).
Efforts to make our nation more Christian always work on two fronts: reintroducing religious instruction into public schools and promoting Sunday as the universal day of rest through legislation. Public education is used as the training ground for moral instruction, while Sunday laws become the instrument of enforcement and conformity. What begins with religious education in the classroom steadily moves toward control over what day we must all observe for worship.
This same pattern is re-emerging today. Calls to restore prayer, moral instruction, Ten Commandments displays, and Bibles in public schools are once again gaining traction. At the same time, society is increasingly drawn to the idea of a unified day of rest—often presented in terms of family, health, worship, or social wellness. Whenever religion becomes the subject of public policy — especially within state institutions like schools — it always leads to more legislation. Historically, that legislation ends with government-mandated Sunday laws.
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