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Posted by Jan Wondra | Aug 15, 2025
It’s come to this. On July 28, the Office of Personnel Management, in partnership with the White House Faith Office, announced that its policies will now support religious coercion and apparently religious proselytizing in the workplace.
It appears particularly directed to those who identify as Christian nationalists; either due to a view of the predestination of American exceptionalism, or those who support applying a state religion to America (at least their version of Christianity)
The office released a memorandum titled “Religious Expression in the Federal Workplace.” It is filled with policies that could ultimately allow harassment towards nonreligious employees, or those who might be religious, or be Muslims, or Hindus, Jewish or, for that matter, Catholics or Episcopalians, or Baptists. The guidance also fails to support atheist, agnostic, humanist, spiritual, and all other religiously unaffiliated workers.
This caused representatives of the Secular Coalition of America (SCA) and other non-religious groups to issue a protest asking that the memo be rescinded, based upon the First Amendment. While the memo positions this as protecting religious rights, others note that since the inception of this country, our entire government has been secular.
Having witnessed how religion (and particularly state religions) tore apart European peace, our founders officially assured that the United States was not founded with any state religion. Instead, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution recognizes, among the five freedom protections, “freedom of religion.”
The SCE-led protest letter to the Office of Personnel Management noted that “Our organizations work to protect the rights of the 30 percent of the population who have no religious affiliation, many of whom have no interest in changing that status.
The 2.4 million employees of the federal government generally reflect the American population demographically, so approximately700,000 federal employees would fit the category of having no religious affiliation.
“It is difficult to say which is most troubling: encouraging criticism of someone else’s religious beliefs in the workplace, explicitly permitting supervisors to attempt to convert subordinates, or providing guidance for interactions with the public as demonstrated in the examples you give for a National Park Service ranger and a Veterans Affairs (VA doctor.”
The letter went on to express particular concern that not only would employees be allowed to harass others who may not share their beliefs, that the same right would be given to supervisors, presenting the idea that there are “right beliefs” that must be held to get ahead in your role within the federal government.
Clearly, this move is intended to advance the initiatives laid out in the Project 2025 document produced by the Heritage Foundation. If it stands, its critics say this represents yet another chip away of the protections afforded Americans and all residents of this country, whether citizen or not, by the Rule of Law and the United States Constitution.
While the objection demanded an immediate response and a withdrawal of the memo, as yet, there has been no official response.
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Publisher/Managing EditorWith criss-crossing careers in global marketing and advertising, product management, and journalism, Wondra has found leading business entities from Western Union North America Money Transfer to the Arrow Electronics Global Marketing team to be fertile strategic ground before returning to her journalistic roots; first launching theCorridor.biz for the Villager Media Group, before launching Ark Valley Voice. As the winner of several Colorado Press Association Awards and Publisher/Managing Editor, she leads an enthusiastic team of journalists who believe strongly that “Truth should have a voice.”
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Federal Government has Issued a Memo Allowing Religious Proselytizing in the Workplace – Ark Valley Voice
