Federal employees can preach in the workplace under new guidelines issued Monday by the Trump administration that have alarmed advocates for the separation of church and state.
The guidelines, outlined in a memo from the Office of Personnel Management, allow public employees to pray and discuss religion, including efforts to “persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views,” but do not endorse a specific faith.
Supervisors are also allowed to encourage workers to engage in expressions of faith, including prayer.
“Federal employees should never have to choose between their faith and their career,” OPR Director Scott Kupor said in a statement outlining the policy. “This guidance ensures the federal workplace is not just compliant with the law but welcoming to Americans of all faiths.”
The White House also pointed to a memo with similar language and protections issued under former President Bill Clinton.
Still, religious liberty advocates were disturbed.
Mikey Weinstein, president and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said the guidelines appeared to be in conflict with the Constitution and the rights of workers.
“If your supervisor decides to sit down and make it very clear that it’s important to her or him, that you accept this weaponized version of the gospel of Jesus Christ, what do you think your chances are for advancement?” Weinstein said.
But Andrew Walker, an associate dean at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary said the new policy merely “resets” the rules back to neutrality.
“I have no problem with it whatsoever,” Walker said. “To me, that’s simply reaffirming the First Amendment, that has proper caveats if you’re not engaging in harassing behavior. I think this is just reiterating basic principles of the First Amendment.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has appeared to embrace religion to a significant degree, establishing a White House Faith Office, directing State Department employees to report anti-Christian bias from colleagues and issuing an executive order to create a presidential commission on religious liberty.
