Maybe you were curious enough to read an article about it, or even download the PDF and read through the entire thing. Your takeaway was probably either “Holy Fuck!” or “There’s no way this will ever happen.”
The latter was a common comment I received whenever I posted about it – and one of my posts even got a community note for being false by Facebook. Now that about half of the goals from Project 2025 have now been fulfilled, I don’t get many pushback comments anymore.
That doesn’t mean I don’t still think “Holy Fuck!” when I see the Trump admin rolling out new policies to further Project 2025. I guess oppression isn’t something you ever get used to. Looking at this new Trump administration memo telling federal employees they can convince coworkers to “re-think their religious beliefs” – well everyone should be completely outraged.
If you haven’t heard yet – The Trump administration on Monday told federal workers they can talk about religion at work, including by trying to “persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views.”
Think about that – we’re talking about a government policy that literally encourages federal workers to tell their colleagues why their faith is wrong and why they should convert. The Office of Personnel Management memo uses those exact words: employees can engage in “polite discussion of why his faith is correct and why the non-adherent should re-think his religious beliefs.”
So, your coworker at the IRS can now corner you during lunch and explain why you’re going to hell unless you accept Jesus. The park ranger giving you a tour can lead the group in prayer. Your VA doctor can pray over you while you’re trying to get medical care. And supervisors – people who literally control your career – can try to recruit you to their church.
This isn’t about religious freedom. This is about weaponizing the workplace to push a specific agenda, because anyone who thinks this applies equally to all faiths is kidding themselves. When Trump’s people talk about eliminating “anti-Christian bias” and creating a “White House Faith Office,” they’re not exactly being subtle about which religion gets the VIP treatment.
The whole thing reeks of the same authoritarian playbook we’ve seen throughout history. Get control of the government workforce, then use that power to reshape society according to your vision. Except now they’re dressing it up as constitutional rights and religious liberty.
What’s particularly mindblowing is how they’re spinning this as protection for the oppressed. Federal employees “should never have to choose between their faith and their career,” says OPM Director Scott Kupor. Right – because Christians in America are famously persecuted and unable to practice their religion. Give me a fucking break.
The practical implications are where this gets really ugly. Imagine being a Muslim federal employee when your evangelical supervisor starts posting Easter invitations on the bulletin board and asking why you haven’t accepted Christ as your savior. Or being an atheist when your coworkers form prayer circles and keep asking you to join. The memo says if you ask them to stop, they should honor that request – but good luck with that power dynamic when your boss is the one doing the converting.
Employment law experts are already sounding the alarm. As one noted, supervisors have “power and control over employees,” making these religious conversations inherently coercive. Another warned this “makes it more likely that an employee will feel singled out and discriminated against.”
And this policy affects everyone who interacts with the federal government. That park ranger leading prayer with tourists. The VA doctor praying over patients. The security guard at the federal building displaying religious items while checking your ID. You can’t opt out of these interactions like you can with a coworker’s lunch break sermon.
The Trump team claims this is just clarifying existing law, pointing to 1997 Clinton-era guidance that used similar language. Except there’s a massive difference between grudgingly allowing religious expression and actively encouraging government employees to evangelize. One protects individual rights – the other turns the federal workforce into a missionary force.
And let’s be honest about what this really represents. It’s the logical next step for a movement that’s been chipping away at church-state separation for years. First you stack the Supreme Court with religious conservatives. Then you get rulings that expand religious expression in public spaces. Now you’re telling 2.4 million federal employees to go forth and convert their colleagues and the citizens they serve.
The constitutional issues here are staggering. When federal employees use their official positions to promote religion to the public, that’s not personal expression – that’s government endorsement. The Establishment Clause isn’t supposed to be a suggestion.
What makes this even more infuriating is the selective application. You think they’d be equally supportive if federal employees started trying to convert people to Islam or Hinduism? Or if an atheist employee spent their breaks explaining why religion is a harmful delusion? The policy claims to protect all faiths, but we all know which team is really being empowered here.
This is how democracy dies – not with jackboots and tanks, but with memos and policies that slowly reshape institutions from within. Today it’s encouraging religious conversations in federal offices. Tomorrow it’s requiring them. Next week it’s making conversion a job requirement.
The fact that we’re even having this conversation shows how far we’ve drifted from basic principles of secular government. The founders would be horrified that we’re debating whether federal employees should proselytize on the taxpayer’s dime.
But maybe that’s the point. Create so much chaos and confusion that people stop noticing when the guardrails disappear entirely.