Trump administration acts to protect religious expression of federal workers
Tuesday, 29 July 2025 ()
U.S. Office of Personnel Management headquarters building in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Another Believer, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 29, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has issued new guidance to safeguard the right of federal employees to express religion in the workplace, including the display of religious imagery on desks, voluntary conversations, and prayer.
The new guidelines, issued by U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor, were sent to the heads of all federal departments and agencies on Monday, July 28. The guidance is meant to clarify the religious liberty protections guaranteed in the First Amendment and already enshrined in federal law.
“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.”
Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Michael Ross praised the memo in a statement to CNA, saying that “no American should have to check their faith at the door when they walk into the workplace.”
“We’re grateful for President Trump’s leadership in reaffirming every federal employee’s right to exercise their religious beliefs at work to the fullest extent permitted by law,” he said. “This is a critical step in restoring a workplace culture that respects and promotes religious freedom for every American.”
*Protected religious expressions*
The federal guidance clarifies religious liberty protections in five specific categories: display and use of items for religious purposes, expressions by groups of federal employees, conversations between federal employees, expressions directed at members of the public, and expressions in areas accessible to the public.
For the first category, the guidance states that employees can display and use religious items at their desks, on their person, and in assigned workplaces. This applies to a variety of items, such as Bibles, rosaries, jewelry, artwork, crosses, and mezuzahs.
The second category guarantees that federal employees can “engage in individual or communal religious expressions in both formal and informal settings alone or with fellow employees” when the employees are not on duty.
On the subject of conversations between employees, the guidance states that a person “may engage in conversations regarding religious topics.” This includes voluntary conversations that seek to “persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views” as long as it is not harassing in nature.
The protection of religious conversations also extends to an employee encouraging a co-worker to participate in prayer or other expressions of faith “to the same extent that they would be permitted to encourage co-workers [to] participate in other personal activities.” An employee cannot be disciplined in any way for not wanting to participate.
When engaging with members of the public as a private person — as long as the employee is not making a statement as part of his official duties — his or her religious expression must “not be suppressed,” according to the guidance. It states that constitutional rights “are not limited by the venue or the hearer.”
Additionally, the guidance states religious expressions, when done in an employee’s personal capacity, are permitted “in areas accessible to the public.” It states such religious expressions must “be treated in the same manner as if those expressions are made in areas inaccessible to the public.”
*Examples of protected activities*
The guidelines offer the heads of federal departments and agencies several examples of religious expressions that are protected.
In one example, it notes that an employee could keep a Bible on his or her desk to read during breaks or an employee could keep a rosary at his or her desk to pray during breaks. Employees can wear crosses or other clothing that displays a religious message.
The guidelines explain that a group of employees could form a prayer group or a group to study the Bible or other religious texts at the office, as long as they are not on duty. Employees should be allowed to use empty conference rooms for such activities, according to the guidance.
An employee is allowed to engage in a “polite discussion of why his faith is correct and why the non-adherent should rethink his religious beliefs,” invite a member to church, or post a bulletin that advertises a religious service. Yet, conversations must be voluntary. If a co-worker does not want to continue the conversation, “the employee should honor the request.”
Other protected activities listed include a park ranger leading a tour through a national park joining a group in prayer or a doctor praying over his or her patient for recovery. It would also permit a security guard to display a crucifix, among many other protected activities.
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