The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), under Director Scott Kupor, issued a memo this week directing the heads of federal departments and agencies to allow employees' religious expression in the workplace.
According to the July 28 memo titled "Protecting Religious Expression in the Federal Workplace," federal employees are allowed to display religious items at work, engage in individual or group prayer during non-duty hours, discuss their religious beliefs and attempt to persuade co-workers in a "polite discussion" without harassing them.
Employees are also allowed to invite co-workers to religious services and express their faith, even in public-facing roles such as a national park ranger speaking with tour groups.
Agencies were directed to allow religious expression to the greatest extent possible unless it imposes an "undue hardship" on business operations, which does not include a co-worker disliking such expression.
Agencies were advised to review and revise internal policies to ensure compliance, avoid disciplining employees for religious expression that is not harassing, and ensure the right of supervisors to engage in religious discussions.
The memo cited Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which defines religion to include "all aspects of religious observance and practice as well as belief."
"However, Title VII does not cover all beliefs. For example, social, political, or economic philosophies, and mere personal preferences, are not 'religious' beliefs within the meaning of the statute," the memo noted.
Kupor emphasized in a statement that the guidance is intended to protect federal employees of all faiths.
"Federal employees should never have to choose between their faith and their career," Kupor said in a statement. "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 comes a week after another OPM memo encouraged robust accommodations for religious liberty among federal employees, including telework options and modified work schedules for religious accommodation.
Andrew T. Walker, who serves as an associate dean at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, praised the new guidance and suggested it restores the federal government to neutrality.
"I have no problem with it whatsoever," Walker told Politico. "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."
Attorney Mikey Weinstein, who founded the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, was critical of the new guidance, telling the outlet that "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?"
In a video posted Monday, Weinstein described the rules as "unconstitutional savagery" and likened them to "Nazi Germany, 1933."
The OPM memos come amid the Trump administration's push to "eradicate anti-Christian bias" in the federal government. In addition to a February executive order establishing a task force within the U.S. Department of Justice for such a purpose, Trump also issued an executive order in May to create a presidential commission on religious liberty.
