White House permits employees to show Bibles
(MENAFN) The White House has issued new guidance allowing U.S. federal employees to openly express their religious beliefs in the workplace, including the right to display items like Bibles, crucifixes, and mezuzahs on their desks. A memo released Monday by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) states that workers may also engage in faith-based discussions and group religious activities, as long as they respect colleagues' boundaries.
The move, which officials say reinforces existing legal protections for religious freedom, follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump after returning to office in January. The order created a task force to investigate alleged anti-Christian bias within the federal government. The administration had earlier encouraged State Department staff to report suspected cases of religious discrimination.
According to the OPM memo, employees are permitted to share their faith with others during breaks, including efforts to persuade non-believers, so long as such conversations stop if the other party objects. The memo stresses that religious speech should not be harassing or coercive in nature.
Department of Labor guidelines already caution that proselytizing should end if it becomes unwelcome, and the new memo reiterates that standard.
However, critics argue the policy may disproportionately benefit evangelical Christians while failing to address the rights of Muslim employees or those of other faiths. The Freedom From Religion Foundation expressed alarm over the potential for increased religious pressure in government offices. Co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor warned that the policy could enable supervisors to evangelize subordinates and encourage federal workers to push religious views on the public.
The Clinton administration had previously clarified in 1997 that federal employees could discuss their religious beliefs at work, provided such interactions ceased if a colleague objected. The new policy, while similar in scope, appears more explicit in endorsing workplace religious expression.
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