c. 1997 Religion News Service
WASHINGTON _ President Clinton, saying religious freedom is”at the heart of what it means to be an American,”issued guidelines Thursday (Aug. 14) clarifying current law on how faith and belief may be expressed in the federal workplace.
The guidelines, the result of an unusual coalition of religious conservatives and liberals, also note federal employers cannot discriminate in hiring practices on the basis of religion, must”reasonably accommodate”the religious practices of employees, and cannot participate in religious harassment.”Religious freedom is at the heart of what it means to be an American, and at the heart of our journey to become truly one America,”Clinton said in a brief speech to more than 100 Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders at the Old Executive Office Building.”Let us pledge always to honor it, and, today, to make these guidelines the source of harmony and strength as we guarantee to all of our people our precious liberty.” Among the religious practices the 13-page guidelines say are permissible for federal employees is keeping a Bible or Koran on their desks for reading during breaks in the work day. Employees also can have equal access to a cafeteria or office conference room for a Bible study with willing participants at lunchtime.
Proselytizing, including religious discussions in hallways and parking lots, is permitted as long as the person being proselytized does not ask that it stop or demonstrate that it is unwelcome.
Additionally, managers are expected to coordinate work schedules to minimize interference with workers’ observance of Sabbath or other religious holidays, and to permit employees to wear clothing required by their faith.”Governmental interests in workplace efficiency may be at stake in such cases,”Clinton wrote in a memo to heads of executive agencies and departments.”But an agency … 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.” Religious expression by employees or employers that could be interpreted”by a reasonable observer”as government endorsement or denigration of religion would not be permitted, the guidelines state.
The guidelines _ which apply to all civilian federal employees _ were initially drafted by Marc Stern, legal director of the American Jewish Congress, and Steve McFarland, director of the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom. Others involved in the drafting of the guidelines include representatives of People for the American Way, the National Council of Churches, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, the National Association of Evangelicals and the American Jewish Committee.
Religious leaders generally applauded the guidelines for their accommodation of religion as well as their prevention of religious coercion.”For a Jewish organization what is important is not only the right of employees to observe the Sabbath and holidays and to wear a skullcap on the job, but since the right to engage in religious discussion often involves proselytizing, to be able to say no and to have this decision respected,”said David V. Kahn, president of the American Jewish Congress.”Thanks to President Clinton’s action, Jewish employees are assured of both sets of rights.” White House counsel William P. Marshall said the guidelines aim to clarify and highlight current law rather than break new legal ground.”I think they promote an understanding that some people may not have realized,”Marshall said.
The Rev. Oliver Thomas, special counsel for the National Council of Churches, said the new directive fills an important vacuum left by the failed attempt by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1993 to create a similar set of guidelines.”These guidelines, we believe, will help clarify what was a very confused area of the law,”he said.”This is a very important breakthrough so both employers, supervisors and employees understand what their rights are.” But the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called the guidelines”seriously flawed”and predicted they will provoke more lawsuits because more employees will place religious symbols in public places.”When I go to a post office, I don’t want to see a crucifix at the clerk’s window when I want to buy Bugs Bunny stamps,”he said.”This appears to permit that and I think that’s just plain wrong.” Stern said the writers of the guidelines sought to cover a wide spectrum of the religious community _ including Muslim women wearing head scarves, or hijabs, in the workplace _ precisely in the hope of reducing lawsuits by employees whose religious rights have been abridged.”We think by having done that, we will deal with real problems that people have in real workplaces,”he said.
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Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center of Reformed Judaism said while the guidelines are written specifically for the federal government, he hopes they will influence state governments and private-sector employers.”We are going to do what we can to publicize these guidelines … and hope that others will use them as a model,”Saperstein said.
On July 31, Sens. Dan Coats, R-Ind., and John Kerry, D-Mass., introduced a measure that would strengthen legislation requiring private sector employers to accommodate employees’ religious practices.
The new federal workplace guidelines mark the third time such a broad coalition of religious groups has crossed ideological lines to work together on issues involving religion in the public square.
The first effort came in the wake of a 1990 Supreme Court decision making it easier for government to interfere with religious practices. The religious groups, perceiving a threat to religious liberty, joined to push enactment of what became known as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. That law, however, was overturned in June by the Supreme Court.
The religious groups again joined forces to reach a common understanding on what religious practices are permitted in the public schools, an effort that resulted in Clinton issuing a set of guidelines in 1995 that were distributed to all public school districts.”People don’t leave their religion at home,”said Forest Montgomery, general counsel of the National Association of Evangelicals.”They take it with them.” Stern said it took he and McFarland”about a day”to come up with the guidelines in January 1996, but it took the administration more than 18 months to release them.
McFarland said Justice Department officials proposed numerous changes, but the final guidelines were very similar to what he and Stern initially suggested.
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