Federal workers can’t escape religious messages from their bosses: ‘This has never happened before’

Federal workers have been inundated with Christian messaging from their bosses, a trend many view as an alarming breakdown of the boundary between church and state, according to a new report.Across multiple agencies and departments, employees have received proselytizing emails, invitations to worship services in government buildings and observed religious undertones in high-profile policy decisions.“Generally, people who are working for the government understand that their job is to work on behalf of all Americans,” a Department of Labor employee told WIRED. “And this is something very different. This is very explicitly Christian, and even within the realm of Christianity, a very narrow representation of that.”Trump administration officials say that such expressions of faith in the workplace are neither new nor controversial.Since returning to office, President Donald Trump, who recently shared an image depicting himself as Jesus, has enacted a series of changes that have fueled a resurgence of religion within the federal bureaucracy. Faith leaders meeting with Trump for a National Day of Prayer event in May 2025. Federal workers across agencies have been inundated with religious messaging, according to a new report (Getty Images)In February 2025, Trump established several faith-based offices across the government, including the White House Faith Office, headed by televangelist Paula White-Cain — who has compared the president to Jesus. In July 2025, the Office of Personnel Management released a memo permitting federal workers to “encourage” peers to “to participate in religious expressions of faith, such as prayer.”Department of AgricultureOn Easter Sunday, Department of Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins sent an agency-wide email with the subject line “He has risen!” It described the life of Jesus as “greatest story ever told, the foundation of our faith, and the abiding hope of all mankind.”Speaking to WIRED, a department employee labeled the email “grotesque,” adding that such conduct would be unacceptable even for military chaplains.In an all-staff email on Easter Sunday, Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins described the life of Jesus as 'greatest story ever told, the foundation of our faith, and the abiding hope of all mankind' (Getty Images)As a result of the April 5 message, a complaint was filed to the Office of Special Counsel by Ethan Roberts, a department employee and the president of a federal employees union. Roberts alleged that Rollins’ email “eroded the separation of church and state.”A department spokesperson told WIRED: “The secretary is within her rights to send a message to employees and the public on the Easter holiday. Just like secretaries of agriculture and presidents have in the past.”Department of LaborMonthly worship services are hosted at the Department of Labor by Kenneth Wolfe, the head of the agency’s faith center. One department staffer called the gatherings “very abnormal.”During a worship service in January, Alveda King — Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece — told department employees: “We have different denominations, different faiths, and some have no faith, and those are the ones I would be more concerned about.”Some staffers interpreted her comments to mean non-believers are going to hell, though King told WIRED she is “not the judge of souls.”“People are uncomfortable,” a department employee said. Another added: “They always spend a lot of time carrying on like, ‘No one's forcing you to pray, these are voluntary. But it's happening in the middle of a government workplace.”Courtney Parella, a Labor Department spokesperson, told the outlet “the department hosted uplifting and voluntary nondenominational prayer services. Those who weren’t interested simply continued their day.”Department of Health and Human Services Staffers at the Department of Health and Human Services have also noted a religious undercurrent during Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure.The department has backed religious exemptions for vaccines while stepping up support for "faith-based" treatments for addiction, which Kennedy described as a "spiritual disease.”On April 3, Kennedy permitted department employees to leave early “in observance of Good Friday,” according to WIRED.Under Kennedy, HHS has backed religious exemptions for vaccines while ramping up support for 'faith-based' treatments for addiction (Reuters)“There exists a clear throughline of transgressive delight in violating the separation of church and state, of a similar corruptive mindset as the joy they take in forcing our agency to reduce services to the public whose mission it is for us to serve,” an HHS staffer told the outlet.This wall between religion and public service is enshrined in the Constitution. The First Amendment’s establishment clause bars the government from creating an “official” religion, while the free exercise clause protects Americans’ right to practice their religion without government interference. Article Six also prohibits the government from adopting religious tests for public officials.Department spokesperson Emily Hilliard said: “HHS supports a range of evidence-based and community-informed approaches, including partnerships with faith-based and community organizations, consistent with federal law.”Department of DefenseThe integration of religion — specifically Evangelical Christianity — into government operations has been most evident at the Department of Defense.At the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon hosts monthly worship services. One such service was led by Doug Wilson, a controversial preacher, who has argued that women should not be allowed to vote.During a service in March, shortly after the outbreak of the Iran war, Hegseth implored God. “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation,” he said, and asked that “wicked souls be delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them.”He said the prayer was “fitting given what’s going on right now.”During a Pentagon prayer service in March, Hegseth asked that ‘wicked souls be delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them’ (Reuters)The former Fox News host has also insisted that God stands with the U.S. against Iran, labeled Iranian leaders “barbaric savages” and asked Americans to pray “in the name of Jesus Christ” for victory.“Secretary Hegseth, along with millions of Americans, is a proud Christian,” Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson previously told The Independent.“The Christian faith is woven deeply into the fabric of our nation and shared by America’s wartime leaders like President George Washington, who prayed for his troops at Valley Forge, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who gifted Bibles to American soldiers during WW2,” he continued. “Encouraging the American people to pray for our troops is not controversial.”