The Trump administration on Monday issued new guidance affirming federal workers’ rights to express and discuss religious beliefs in the workplace — including trying to persuade colleagues to “re-think” their views.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said employees may talk about religion, display religious symbols at their desks, invite co-workers to services, and pray with tour groups or patients, provided it doesn’t interfere with official duties or become harassing.
“Federal employees should never have to choose between their faith and their career,” OPM Director Scott Kupor said. The memo cites civil rights law and the First Amendment as its foundation, and updates similar Clinton-era rules.
Agencies may still restrict speech broadly (e.g., banning all posters), but must apply rules evenly between religious and nonreligious expression.
The guidance follows President Trump‘s February executive order claiming pervasive “anti-Christian weaponization of government” and a recent Supreme Court decision supporting religious accommodations.
Critics, including the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said the policy risks enabling proselytizing and pressure from supervisors. “These shocking changes… allow supervisors to evangelize underlings,” said co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor.
Sources:
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CBS News
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