Trump Defends Religious Rights of Federal Workers With New Guidance

By Brooke Singman | Fox News

OPM Director Kupor issued a memo ensuring federal workers can display Bibles, crucifixes, or mezuzahs on their desks; and more

FIRST ON FOX: Federal agencies are now required to protect religious expression in the workplace, according to a new government-wide memo obtained by Fox News Digital on Monday—marking one of the most sweeping moves in decades to defend faith and freedoms in the civil service.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Monday sent guidance to federal agencies across the Trump administration, detailing the new requirements, which ensure federal workers can display Bibles, crucifixes, or mezuzahs on their desks; pray in groups while off-duty; invite colleagues to church; and speak about their religious beliefs, even to the public, without fear of reprisal.

The memo, titled “Protecting Religious Expression in the Federal Workplace,” was sent to agencies by OPM Director Scott Kupor on Monday, and obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital.

President Donald Trump is seen praying with faith leaders in the Oval Office on Wednesday. (White House)

“Federal employees should never have to choose between their faith and their career,” OPM Director Scott Kupor told Fox News Digital. “This guidance ensures the federal workplace is not just compliant with the law but welcoming to Americans of all faiths.”

Kupor added: “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are restoring constitutional freedoms and making government a place where people of faith are respected, not sidelined.”

In the memo, Kupor details that the federal workforce “should be a welcoming place for Federal employees who practice a religious faith.”

“Allowing religious discrimination in the Federal workplace violates the law. It also threatens to adversely impact recruitment and retention of highly-qualified employees of faith,” the memo states. “The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution robustly protects expressions of religious faith by all Americans—including Federal employees.”

Kupor noted that freedom of religious expression is also protected by federal statutes, which “prohibit the federal government from discriminating in employment based on religion or religious expression.”

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