According to a recent directive from the US Office of Personnel Management, federal employees can try to persuade their colleagues to follow their religion.
In a memo sent on Monday from agency head Scott Kuper, the policy is defended as being a part of President Donald Trump’s most recent effort to protect religious freedom, using the phrase “constitutionally protected freedom from religious discrimination.”
The Trump administration has been accused of following laws that undermine the separation of church and state while elevating Christianity over other faiths.
The memo goes one step further by stating that employees may engage in “attempting to persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views” as long as “these efforts are not harassing in nature, which is not the memo’s description.”
That might also include encouraging coworkers to pray “to the same extent as they would be permitted to encourage coworkers to engage in other personal activities.”
The new OPM guidance makes sure Americans of all faiths are welcomed at the federal workplace in accordance with the law. We are restoring constitutional rights and making government a place where people of faith are respected, not marginalized, under the leadership of @POTUS. …
According to the directive, “the constitutional rights of supervisors to engage in such conversations should not be distinguished from those of non-supervisory employees by the nature of their supervisory responsibilities,” while adding that employees are not held accountable for declining to participate in the conversation.
The memo also lists acceptable behavior for federal employees who interact with the public, noting that statements made to the public “in accordance with their official duties” are not always protected by the US Constitution. Additionally, the memo states that religious expression should not be “limited by the venue or hearer.”
For instance, the memo stated that a doctor at a Veterans Affairs hospital “may pray over his patient for recovery” or that a national park ranger leading a public tour “may join her tour group in prayer.”
The Trump administration has pledged to fight back against repeated accusations of assault on religious freedom in the country.
Trump set up a “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias” in February through executive action.
He established the “Religious Liberty Commission” in May, and he later released a fact sheet that only made direct references to Christianity despite promising to advance “America’s peaceful religious pluralism.”
Trump questioned whether religion and government should remain separate at the time during a Rose Garden event at the time.
“Separation,” you ask? Is that beneficial or detrimental? Trump stated at the time. “I’m not sure”.
