[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