‘Skeptical optimism’: Faith leaders share their hopes for the incoming Trump administration
Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith leaders are cautiously optimistic heading into the new year with a second Trump administration.
This week, Fox News Digital spoke to leaders from various faith communities, many of whom expressed hope the incoming administration would lead in the right direction but wary that President-elect Trump would still prove himself.
"There are some [Jewish] communities that feel positive and optimistic, and there are some communities that feel extremely concerned," said New York City Rabbi Jo David, who has a private rabbinic practice.
"I think there's a mixed reaction, but there's a skeptical optimism," said Haris Tarin, vice president of policy and programming at the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Lorenzo Sewell, senior pastor at 180 Church in Detroit, said Trump has the opportunity to go down as "the greatest president in history" if he plays his cards right. "Only thing he needs to do is righteously regulate [the appropriate] resources."
Samuel Rodriguez is lead pastor at New Season, a prominent U.S. megachurch, and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. He echoed the sense of hope that some faith leaders are feeling looking toward Inauguration Day.
"I believe we’ll see a stronger emphasis on protecting religious freedom and ensuring that faith communities are empowered to thrive," Rodriguez said. "Policies that respect the role of faith-based organizations in society — whether they’re feeding the hungry, educating children or advocating for life — will likely take center stage. I also anticipate an administration that values the contributions of people of faith, not as something to tolerate but as an essential cornerstone of our nation."
With respect to the Jewish community, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and director of Global Social Action at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said antisemitism, particularly on social media and on college campuses, and the "embrace of the Hamas narrative," are a top priority.
"We expect and hope for a completely different approach on the part of the incoming administration," Cooper said. "We expect that the billions and billions of sanction relief that President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken have given to the terrorist-sponsoring regime in Iran, that's going to come to an end."
Cooper also said building on and advancing the Abraham Accords, a series of bilateral agreements on Arab–Israeli normalization between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, will be important.
For Tarin, the biggest hope among the Muslim community, he says, is that there is not a repeat of the 2020 order by Trump that prevented people from certain Muslim countries from coming to the U.S.
"No. 2, the hope is that all Americans, including American Muslims, their civil rights and civil liberties and the issues that they've been advocating for are protected. No. 3, the hope is for a cease-fire and the end to the conflict in the Middle East and specifically in Gaza," Tarin said.
He added that it would be beneficial if Trump embraced parts of the Biden administration's national strategy on Islamophobia.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump-Vance transition team for comment but did not receive a response.