    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [August 14, 1997]
    [Pages 1104-1105]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Memorandum on Religious Exercise and Religious Expression in the Federal
    Workplace
    August 14, 1997

    Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies

    Subject: Religious Exercise and Religious Expression in the Federal
    Workplace

        Religious freedom is central to the American system of liberty. Our
    Nation's founders erected the twin pillars of this freedom, guaranteeing
    the free exercise of religion and prohibiting the establishment of
    religion by the state, in the very First Amendment to the Constitution.
    Throughout our history, men and women have come to this Nation to escape
    religious persecution and secure this precious freedom. They and others
    have built a Nation in which religious practices and religious
    institutions have thrived--exactly because each individual has been able
    to choose for himself or herself whether and, if so, how to worship.
        In the four and one-half years I have served as President, I have
    been proud of the efforts of my Administration, in tandem with a broad
    coalition of individuals and organizations, to support freedom of
    religion. In 1993, I was proud to reaffirm the rightful and historic
    place of religion throughout our society when I signed the Religious
    Freedom Restoration Act, which continues to protect the exercise of
    religion from being inappropriately burdened by Federal agencies,
    entities, and institutions. In 1995, I was similarly proud to support
    the protection of appropriate religious expression in the public schools
    when I directed the Secretary of Education to issue guidance to public
    school districts on the extent of permissible prayer and other speech of
    a religious character.
        Today, I focus on the Federal workplace, directing the heads of
    executive departments and agencies (``agencies'') to comply with the
    Guidelines on Religious Exercise and Religious Expression in the Federal
    Workplace to be distributed today by the Office of Personnel Management.
    All civilian executive branch agencies, officials, and employees must
    follow these Guidelines carefully. Strict adherence to these Guidelines
    will ensure that agencies will respect the rights of those who engage in
    religious practices or espouse religious beliefs, as well as those who
    reject religion altogether. In particular, the Guidelines establish the
    following principles:
        First, agencies shall permit employees to engage in personal
    religious expression (as they must permit other constitutionally valued
    expression) to the greatest extent possible, consistent with interests
    in workplace efficiency and requirements of law. Of course, the
    workplace is for work, and an agency may restrict any speech that truly
    interferes with its ability to perform public services. In addition, an
    agency may have a legal obligation to restrict certain forms of speech
    that intrude unduly on the legitimate rights of others. But when an
    agency allows nonreligious speech, because that speech does not impinge
    on these interests, an agency also usually must allow otherwise similar
    speech of a religious nature. The one exception to this principle of
    neutrality--an exception mandated by the Establishment Clause--is when
    religious speech would lead a reasonable observer to conclude that the
    Government is endorsing religion. Subject to this exception, an agency
    may not typically subject religious speech to greater restrictions than
    other speech entitled to full constitutional protection, and therefore
    should allow much of this speech to go forward.
        Second, the Federal Government may not discriminate in employment on
    the basis of religion. This means that an agency may not hire or refuse
    to hire, promote or refuse to promote, or otherwise favor or disfavor a
    potential, current, or former employee because of his or her religion or
    religious beliefs. This means that an agency, or any supervisor within
    an agency, may

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    not coerce an employee to participate in religious activities (or to
    refrain from participating in otherwise permissible religious
    activities) by offering better (or threatening worse) employment
    conditions. And this means that an agency shall prevent any supervisor
    or any employee from engaging in religious harassment or creating,
    through the use of intimidation or pervasive or severe ridicule or
    insult, a religiously hostile environment.
        Third, agencies must reasonably accommodate employees' religious
    practices. The need for accommodation arises in many circumstances--for
    example, when work schedules interfere with Sabbath or other religious
    holiday observances or when work rules prevent an employee from wearing
    religiously compelled dress. Once again, governmental interests in
    workplace efficiency may be at stake in such cases. But an agency, as
    specified in greater detail in the Guidelines, must always accommodate
    an employee's religious practice in the absence of nonspeculative costs
    and may need to accommodate such practice even when doing so will impose
    some hardship on the agency's operations.
        All of these principles are related. All are but variants or
    applications of a single rule of neutrality and fairness--that agencies
    shall treat employees with the same respect and consideration,
    regardless of their religious beliefs. Whether by allowing religious
    speech, preventing religious coercion or harassment, or making
    accommodations to religious practice, the Federal Government must act to
    ensure that the Federal workplace is generous to followers of all
    religions, as well as to followers of none. The Guidelines will advance
    this goal. Although they doubtless will leave unresolved many difficult
    questions arising from specific factual contexts and circumstances, they
    will clarify the obligations and appropriate commitments of the Federal
    Government, acting as an employer, to protect and enhance religious
    freedoms.

                                                          William J. Clinton