Washington | April 15, 2026, 4:57 p.m. ET | 6 min read

President Donald Trump has never had an easy relationship with Christian conservatives. The thrice-married real estate developer and former reality TV star is widely seen as not particularly religious – and not all that engaged on issues near to social conservatives’ hearts, starting with abortion.

Lately, however, tensions that were once smoothed over by a common political agenda have flared out into the open. When President Trump used vulgar language on Easter Sunday, posted a Jesus-like image of himself on social media, and attacked the pope online, some prominent religious supporters pushed back publicly, calling the posts blasphemous and suggesting Mr.…