Trump Administration Lets Federal Employees Promote Religion at Work

Federal employees can talk about and promote their religion at work, the Trump Administration said in new guidance released on Monday. The memo, from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), outlines examples of “permissible religious expression in the workplace.” It cites the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects the right to religious freedom and prevents the government from favoring a particular religion. “Federal employees should never have to choose between their faith and their career,” OPM Director Scott Kupor said in a press release. “This guidance ensures the federal workplace is not just compliant with the law but welcoming to Americans of all faiths. Under President Trump’s leadership, we are restoring constitutional freedoms and making government a place where people of faith are respected, not sidelined.” The memo says federal workers can display and use religious items or icons at their desk, such as a Bible, rosary beads, or tefillin. Employees can also form a prayer group and gather for prayer or scripture study in the workplace, so long as they’re not on duty at the time. And they can also “engage in conversations regarding religious topics with fellow employees, including attempting to persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views, provided that such efforts are not harassing in nature,” according to the memo. OPM also lists in the memo instances in which federal employees can express their religious beliefs among or to members of the public—for instance, park rangers joining their national park tour groups in prayer or doctors at Veterans Affairs medical centers praying over patients for their recovery. Read more: What Exactly Is Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission—and Why Have Some Experts Raised Concerns? The memo follows previous efforts by the Trump Administration to expand the presence or expression of religion in the federal workplace. Earlier this month, OPM released guidance telling agencies that they were “encouraged to adopt a generous approach to approving religious accommodations” for remote work, after President Donald Trump had previously instructed federal employees to return to in-office work five days a week. In February, Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at “eradicating anti-Christian bias” by calling on Administration officials to identify, end, and rectify “any unlawful and improper conduct, policies, or practices that target Christians.” The order accuses the Biden Administration of having “engaged in an egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses.”