Trump’s USDA secretary is sending ‘proselytizing Christian messages’ to government employees, lawsuit claims

Trump’s USDA secretary is sending ‘proselytizing Christian messages’ to government employees, lawsuit claims Brooke Rollins is unconstitutionally ‘preaching’ to federal workers, lawsuit claims - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Federal workers are asking a judge to stop Donald Trump’s Agriculture Secretary from sending “proselytizing” emails with explicitly Christian messages to the agency’s 100,000 employees, which lawyers say violates the First Amendment and breaches the church-and-state firewall. USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins not only sends emails to mark Christian holidays but also injects Christian themes into messages marking secular holidays such as Independence Day and Thanksgiving, according to plaintiffs. “Using American holidays to quote Bible passages is textbook Christian Nationalism,” according to Americans United for Church and State, which is representing plaintiffs. “There’s no escape from her proselytizing — I’m required to read agency emails as part of my job,” USDA employee Ashley Miller, who is among plaintiffs in the case, said in a statement shared with The Independent. “But now I worry any work email I open from the Office of the Secretary might contain more preaching, which makes me feel unwelcome at the agency I’ve served for nearly a decade,” Miller said. A lawsuit was filed three months ago, but Rollins has only “doubled down” on her “proselytizing messages” and “continued to infuse even non-Christian holidays with Christian messaging,” according to Wednesday court filings. She responded to the lawsuit on X with a message that it’s “just another opportunity to remind everyone: He is Risen.” Despite the lawsuit, Rollins sent agency-wide emails on Memorial Day and Independence Day that quoted scripture. Men and women who died in the U.S. military are “safely at rest by trusting in the words of Almighty God,” she wrote. She then quoted a bible verse: “‘I give unto them eternal life, that they shall never perish.’ -John 10:28.” In an email on the Fourth of July, she told Department of Agriculture employees that “scripture teaches us that ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom’ (2 Corinthians 3:17).” “Freedom is a great gift from our Creator, but it is a fragile thing,” Rollins wrote. Federal workers who are suing to stop the messages “feel pressured to share in the Secretary’s religious beliefs, excluded and unwelcome in the workplace, and fearful of the consequences for expressing different beliefs,” according to Wednesday's request for a preliminary injunction to stop Rollins from sending them. “Absent preliminary relief, the Secretary will continue marking future holidays, with Christmas as the next major one, as ‘another opportunity’ to send proselytizing messages that coerce and exclude Plaintiffs and the rest of the USDA workforce required to read them,” the filing says. The lawsuit, filed in May, accuses Rollins of establishing an “in-group” religion at the agency in violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment clause, which prohibits the government from establishing a religion or favoring one over another. In an Easter message sent to all employees, Rollins used phrases such as “we celebrate” and “our faith” to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. “From the foot of the Cross on Good Friday to the stone rolled away from the now empty tomb, sin has been destroyed. Jesus has been raised from the dead. And God has granted each of us victory and new life,” she wrote, according to a copy of the email in court filings. “And where there is life — risen life — there is hope. No matter the very real trials and hardships we face, fear and sin and death do not get the last word. Because on Easter morning, ‘Hell took a body, and discovered God. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.’ Now that is reason to rejoice!” Rollins has never sent a message celebrating or acknowledging other religions’ holidays, according to plaintiffs. Her Easter sermon didn’t mention Passover, which overlapped with Holy Week. “We urge the court to protect federal workers’ religious freedom and stop Secretary Rollins from abusing the power of her public office to impose her beliefs on others,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United, which is supporting plaintiffs in the case. “Across the federal government, the Trump administration has misused taxpayer resources to preach, hold government-sponsored prayer services during work time, and broadcast Christian nationalism over official communications channels. Not on our watch,” she said in a statement. USDA declined to respond to The Independent’s request for comment, citing pending litigation. The Trump administration has repeatedly been accused of violating First Amendment protections by sharing explicitly Christian messages with federal workers and members of the military. Last month, Trump’s Presidential Religious Liberty called for the dissolution of the separation of church and state, a fundamental principle that has been central to constitutional law for more than two centuries. The commission, composed almost entirely of white Christians, has also recommended the repeal of the Johnson Amendment, which prevents tax-exempt organizations — including churches , from making political endorsements. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, an Evangelical Christian, has explicitly framed war with Iran through the lens of his faith and repeatedly invoked scripture and Christian prayer in his remarks. In February, Trump directed a task force at the Department of Justice to “fully prosecute anti-Christian violence and vandalism in our society” and “move heaven and earth to defend the rights of Christians and religious believers nationwide.” Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments