The FFRF Action Fund applauds Congressional Freethought Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Jared Huffman and Jamie Raskin for pressing the Trump administration on its new directives condoning workplace proselytizing.
Their letter flags how the Office of Personnel Management’s recent guidelines allowing proselytizing — even by supervisors — throughout the federal government undermines the separation of state and church and a merit-based civil service.
“OPM’s recent guidance on ‘Reasonable Accommodations for Religious Purposes’ and its memorandum ‘Protecting Religious Expression in the Federal Workplace’ are affronts to the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause, the core principle of separation of church and state, and the religious freedom of federal workers across the country,” the lawmakers write. “It will give religious zealots free rein to proselytize up to the point of infringement on the rights and beliefs of their colleagues and members of the public who may hold different beliefs.”
The Office of Personnel Management is the federal government’s HR hub, setting and enforcing government-wide rules on hiring, classification, pay and benefits — and changes to its guidance can immediately reshape workplace conduct, such as who gets recruited, promoted or disciplined across every agency.
“A federal post or job is not a pulpit,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, president of the FFRF Action Fund. “The Trump administration’s actions invite coercive evangelizing and tilt federal policy to religious favoritism. That betrays the First Amendment and the basic promise that every federal workplace is neutral on religion — for believers and nonbelievers alike. We urge the Trump Administration to withdraw and rewrite this guidance to restore constitutional neutrality.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, FFRF Action Fund’s parent organization, warned immediately after the July 28 memo that the policy greenlights on-the-job proselytizing, empowers supervisors to invite subordinates to church, and even suggests prayer with members of the public by frontline staff — all contrary to constitutional neutrality and common-sense workplace norms.
The Action Fund thanks Raskin and Huffman for their leadership and for demanding answers from the Office of Personnel Management about how these policies square with the Establishment Clause and protect nonreligious employees from pressure or retaliation. The Congressional Freethought Caucus’ oversight is essential to preventing government-sanctioned religious coercion in federal offices.
FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.