Federal employees in the US are being encouraged to express their religious beliefs at work following a memorandum from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
The memo from Scott Kupor, who was sworn in as director of the OPM a fortnight ago, directs heads of federal departments and agencies to take affirmative steps to protect religious expression in the workplace.
A federal worker may engage another in polite discussion of why his faith is correct and why the ‘non-adherent’ should rethink his religious beliefs” – OPM memo
It provides guidance to ensure federal employees can express their religious beliefs through prayer, personal items, group gatherings, and conversations without fear of discrimination or retaliation.
It instructs agencies to review internal policies to ensure compliance with the law and the Trump administrationʼs broader commitment to restoring religious liberty in government institutions.
“Federal employees should never have to choose between their faith and their career,” Kupor said. “This guidance ensures the federal workplace is not just compliant with the law but welcoming to Americans of all faiths. Under President Trumpʼs leadership, we are restoring constitutional freedoms and making government a place where people of faith are respected, not sidelined.”
In the OPM memo, Kupor said that federal employees “may 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.”
He added: “Employees may also encourage their co-workers to participate in religious expressions of faith, such as prayer, to the same extent that they would be permitted to encourage co-workers to participate in other personal activities.”
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A federal worker, according to the memo, “may engage another in polite discussion of why his faith is correct and why the ‘non-adherent’ should rethink his religious beliefs”.
However, “if the non-adherent requests such attempts to stop, the employee should honour the request.”
‘Substantial shift’
Stefanie Camfield, director of human resource services at Engage PEO, told the Washington Post that although the substance of the OPM’s guidance differs little from previous administrations, it “presents a substantial shift in that it encourages employees to express their religious beliefs in the workplace.”
She said employers have historically been advised to keep religious conversations at work to a minimum, adding that “the more religion is allowed into the workplace, the more likely it is that differences of opinion are raised”.
“In the current political environment, these types of differences have a way of turning into arguments,” Camfield said. “In some cases, it leads to outright hostility, which makes it more likely that an employee will feel singled out and discriminated against for their beliefs.”
In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled Eradicating anti-Christian bias, which aimed to “protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the anti-Christian weaponisation of government”.
It emphasised how the First Amendment and various federal laws protect religious practice and forbid discrimination and hate crimes based on religion.
Trump accused the Biden administration of an “egregious pattern of targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offences”, adding that the Department of Justice sought to “squelch faith in the public square” by imprisoning nearly two dozen peaceful pro-life Christians for praying and demonstrating outside abortion facilities.
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