On Monday, July 28, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) unveiled new Trump Administration guidelines for discussing religion in the workplace. The OPM memo encourages federal government workers to “engage in conversations regarding religious topics with fellow employees, including attempting to persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views.”
The Trump Administration and its evangelical Christian nationalist allies are touting this policy as a triumph for freedom of religion. But Salon’s Amanda Marcotte, in a biting article published on August 1, lays out some reasons why it is, in reality, detrimental to religious freedom.
“For most Americans, it’s common sense: You don’t harangue your coworkers because of personal beliefs and behaviors, just because they’re different from yours,” Marcotte explains. “Depending on your workplace, lecturing your colleagues because they are or aren’t married, do or don’t have kids, or spend their weekends woodworking instead of surfing could be recorded as anything from a ‘basic etiquette violation’ to an ‘HR matter.’ Minding your own business is generally considered morally righteous and also, a best practice, to make life easier for everyone.”
READ MORE: ‘Not a stunt’: Dems make a shock move against Trump — as one shrugs it off
Marcotte adds, “But to hear Republicans tell it, being required to leave people alone is the 21st Century equivalent of feeding Christians to the lions.”
The OPM’s July 28 memo, Marcotte warns, “explicitly allows bosses to use their work hours to pester people they’re supervising with appeals to come to Jesus, or sermons on how their sinful lifestyles will send them to hell.”
“First Amendment issues aside, in the eyes of most people, it’s considered obnoxious, offensive and oppressive to tell a gay coworker they’re damned for eternity, or to harangue a Jewish colleague into reciting the Lord’s Prayer,” Marcotte argues. “According to the memo, however, expecting basic respect in the workplace is ‘discrimination’ against ’employees of faith.’ Donald Trump is quoted as saying this change is necessary to protect ‘America’s unique and beautiful tradition of religious liberty.’ In reality, this policy does the opposite.”
Marcotte continues, “It allows Christian conservatives to deprive their colleagues of religious freedom by pressuring them to participate in religious rituals they don’t believe in or practice. As the Freedom from Religion Foundation argued in their response to the guidance, when ‘someone’s job security and promotions are at stake, employees will feel they must go along with the religious conversation or attend that Easter service.’”
READ MORE: The truth finally trickled out of Donald Trump — but the media largely ignored it
According to Marcotte, the far-right Christian nationalist ideology promoted by Project 2025’s Russell Vought — who now heads the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) — does not encourage “religious freedom” but rather, a “form of Christian theocracy.”
“Having all these non-Christians around is perceived as an assault on his freedom,” Marcotte explains. “So (Vought) would like to deprive everyone else of their rights, in the name of freedom. This lack of logic shares much DNA with the rationales of abusers everywhere, who claim that having a boundary is actually abusing them, and therefore, the word ‘no’ justifies whatever beatdown they inflict on the victim.”
READ MORE: ‘This is a good one right?’ Epstein victim recalled being introduced to Trump at age 14
Amanda Marcotte’s full article for Salon is available at this link