Federal Employees Now Allowed to Evangelize at Work Under New US Memo

United States Federal workers – including supervisors – can attempt to persuade their colleagues to join their religion, according to a new directive from the director of the US Office of Personnel Management.

The memo sent by agency head Scott Kuper on Monday cites constitutionally protected freedom from religious discrimination in justifying the policy, framing it as part of the administration of President Donald Trump’s latest effort to protect religious freedom.

Critics have accused the Trump administration of pursuing policies that corrode the separation of church and state in the US, while elevating Christianity over other religions.

While the memo outlines some commonly accepted practices like allowing federal employees to pray in the workforce or wear religious attire, it takes a step further in saying that workers may engage in “attempting to persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views” as long as “such efforts are not harassing in nature”.

That can also include encouraging fellow workers to pray “to the same extent that they would be permitted to encourage coworkers to participate in other personal activities”.

“The constitutional rights of supervisors to engage in such conversations should not be distinguished from non-supervisory employees by the nature of their supervisory roles,” the directive said, while adding that employees cannot be punished for asking not to have the conversation.