Ashley Murray, Michigan Advance

WASHINGTON — As various officials and groups aim to use the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, with the help of a famed sitcom actor, turned the spotlight Tuesday to a central tenet of U.S. democracy: religious freedom.

Actor Rainn Wilson, widely known for playing Dwight Schrute on NBC’s “The Office,” joined a press conference that U.S. Reps. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., hosted along with religious leaders to advocate for the American tradition of religious freedom.

Reading from the Declaration of Independence, Wilson, an outspoken member of the Baha’i faith that originated in 19th-century Persia, now Iran, said the nation’s 250th anniversary “is an opportunity to ask profound questions.”

“How can we give fresh expression to the ideals in the declaration?” he asked. “How can we leave behind tendencies that divide us and replace them with a widening circle of concern? We need to be able to speak and think in terms of spiritual and moral dimensions of individual and collective life.

“We need to do that in ways that are meaningful across different perspectives, both religious and secular,” he continued.

Wilson’s appearance marked the public release of the Baha’i faith’s five-part letter “A Common Endeavor,” which argues for the realization of “ideals, like freedom, equality, and justice” as many Americans have become “exhausted and disillusioned by polarization.”

The press conference was attended by members of several denominations, and is among numerous independent events ahead of the 250th anniversary of the United States.

‘A universal human right’

Boyle cited Baha’i writings that “beautifully” emphasize unity.

U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., co-led at an event Tuesday, June 9, 2026, on Capitol Hill, marking 250 years of religious freedom in United States. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

“My own Catholic faith teaches a similar truth. Pope Francis reminded us that we are called to come together as brothers and sisters, quote, ‘as children from the same earth,’” Boyle said.

“My hope is that for America’s 250th anniversary, this will be more of a focus on what our next 250 years look like, rather than just a wonderful commemoration of the past quarter of a millennium.”

Bilirakis, an Orthodox Christian who co-chairs the Congressional International Religious Freedom Caucus, said, “Religious freedom is not simply an American value, it is a universal human right, and I truly believe that.”

“Whether we are speaking out on behalf of the persecuted Christians, Muslims, Jews, Baha’is, Hindus, Buddhists, Uyghurs, or members of other faith communities, our message must remain clear,” he said. “Every person is endowed with inherent dignity and deserves the freedom to live according to their conscience.”

U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., co-led at an event Tuesday, June 9, 2026, on Capitol Hill, marking 250 years of religious freedom in United States. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

Bilirakis is an original cosponsor of a House resolution condemning the Iran government’s persecution of Baha’is. The resolution was introduced in December 2025, just months before the U.S. escalated war in Iran.

Pentagon list

The event on Capitol Hill, though unrelated, happened just one day after the Pentagon modified its list of recognized religions following criticism from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church.

Utah’s two Republican Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis directly appealed to the administration to change the Department of Defense list, which did not categorize the Latter-day Saints as Christian.

On Friday, the Pentagon revised its list of recognized religions for service members to 31, down from roughly 200.

The Pentagon’s shortened list includes the Baha’i faith.

WASHINGTON — Transgender military members won a temporary victory against the Trump administration in federal appeals court Monday when two judges ruled a policy banning them from service violated their constitutional right to equal protection under the law.

Judges Judith W. Rogers and Robert L. Wilkins for the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia upheld a lower court ruling allowing those plaintiffs involved in the case to continue their service. The decision is a preliminary injunction, meaning the case will continue to play out in court.

The policy, issued by President Donald Trump in an executive order in January 2025 and carried out by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, “appears to be driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group: persons who identify as transgender,” Wilkins wrote for the 2-1 decision.

“As such, at this preliminary stage, I conclude that the Hegseth Policy is both arbitrary and based upon animus, and for those reasons the Policy violates Plaintiff-Appellees’ constitutional right to equal protection of the law,” continued Wilkins, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2014.

Rogers was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994.

Judge Justin R. Walker, a 2019 Trump appointee, dissented.

Walker argued U.S. Supreme Court precedent dictates “the military can deprive its members of rights that the Constitution may well guarantee to civilians.”

“Like today’s majority, I cherish those rights, and so I understand the impulse behind the majority’s unprecedented intervention into military affairs. But because the plaintiffs are service members not civilians, and because we are judges not generals, I respectfully dissent,” Walker wrote.

Jennifer Levi, the lead attorney for the eight military plaintiffs, said Monday’s appeals ruling is an “enormous victory.”

“I will say that the plaintiffs in this case have just served their country with incredible honor and courage, and this decision is a recognition of that fact,” Levi, senior director for GLAD Law, told States Newsroom in an interview.

“And really it’s important because (it is) recognizing that those who are capable of serving should be able to continue.”

States Newsroom reached out to the Pentagon and the White House for comment.

Eight active-duty service members and transgender individuals who are actively pursuing enlistment in the armed forces initially brought the case, Talbott et al v. Trump, against Trump and Hegseth, among other officials and three branches of the U.S. military. The number of plaintiffs has since grown.

The preliminary injunction does not extend to the plaintiffs pursuing enlistment, and does not extend universally to all active transgender service members beyond those who filed the case.

Kara Corcoran, executive director of SPARTA Pride, an advocacy organization for transgender service members, said many transgender service members, including her, are uncertain about the future of their careers.

“While today’s decision provides important relief for certain named plaintiffs, it does not extend protection to the broader transgender military community. Thousands of service members remain subject to ongoing administrative actions, involuntary separation processes, and significant uncertainty about their futures,” said Corcoran, an 18-year Army veteran who is awaiting the military’s decision on whether they will allow her to claim retirement instead of a separation because she is transgender.

Corcoran said “there’s a lot of unknowns to the future” for named plaintiffs and others as the government could seek an emergency stay on the ruling as they did in a separate case, Shilling et al v. Trump.

In Shilling, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on April 18, 2025, upheld a lower court’s ruling that allowed transgender troops to continue serving, denying the government’s appeal.

In May 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Trump to ban transgender people from the military.

“This is now two appellate courts from both Schilling and Talbot who have now signaled to the Supreme Court that yes, this is irreparable harm to people who are in (this situation), and at the same time, it’s discrimination,” she said.