Stephen Colbert grills a 'Religious Liberty Task Force' agent to make a point about Trump, religious liberty

Stephen Colbert and Rob Corddray on religious liberty

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Late Show)

Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new "religious liberty task force" at the Justice Department to protect religious groups from persecution. "Wow, that could put a real kink in their Muslim ban," Stephen Colbert said on Monday's Late Show. He had some things to say about the examples Sessions cited to show religious "persecution" in America — nuns having to offer employees contraception coverage, bakers unable to refuse to make same-sex wedding cakes — and the proof Sessions provided for Trump as a champion of religious liberty. "Yes, you're free to exercise any faith, however you choose to say Merry Christmas," Colbert deadpanned.

To investigate if the new task force is really a shoddily disguised sop to Christian nationalism, Colbert interviewed Religious Liberty Task Force special agent Tom Dockford (Rob Corddry), who really cleared things up, with occasional references to human anatomy.

Last week, The Late Show made a similar point by drawing Sessions into a Ghostbusters cartoon, complete with modified theme song. Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.