To the Editor:
Federal employees take an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and to serve the American people regardless of their religious beliefs. For 250 years, Americans have been free from kings, who ruled over both church and state. The framers of our Constitution worked hard to create the First Amendment to keep the separation of church and state.
As a retired federal employee, having 31 years of federal service, I am very concerned about the Trump administration’s blatant violation of our federal employee’s First Amendment rights regarding religion. There has been an endless stream of Christian nationalism hitting federal employees and America including:
- Hegseth’s U.S. Department of War monthly Pentagon prayer services to his employees preaching domination and war.
- Marco Rubio’s sermons to his Department of State employees on Jesus.
- Secretary of Agriculture Rollins sending employees email missives on Easter proclaiming “our faith” that “Jesus has raised from the dead.”
- White House advisors comparing President Trump to Jesus and the President himself doing the same.
Trump is not Jesus, federal agencies are not churches and cabinet secretaries are not preachers. Our Constitution says as much, that the federal government should be separate from religion, let alone declare one narrow slice of one religion to be the gospel truth! As Alexander Hamilton said in the Federalist Papers, our government has no religion to exercise — “no particle of spiritual jurisdiction.”
The First Amendment ensures that federal employees, and the rest of us, have the freedom to choose our faith without interference or pressure from our government. The Trump administration is clearly violating the First Amendment rights of federal employees.
—D. Brady Green, Blaine; June 22, 2026