Federal employees accuse USDA of illegal Christian proselytizing

• The National Federation of Federal Employees and several individual USDA employees sued the department on May 13, alleging that Secretary Brooke Rollins has illegally proselytized workers.
• The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, referenced several alleged emails with explicit references to Christian beliefs.
• Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Democracy Forward and Bryan Schwartz Law, P.C., are representing the union and USDA employees.

A federal employees union sued the Department of Agriculture in part on First Amendment grounds May 13, accusing USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins of illegally proselytizing the agency’s workers.  

The National Federation of Federal Employees, which represents more than 100,000 federal workers across various agencies, along with several individual USDA employees, accused Rollins of “(adopting) a practice of sending increasingly proselytizing communications to the entire USDA workforce, promoting her own preferred brand of Christian beliefs and theology to the captive audience of employees that report to her,” according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The complaint alleged Rollins has sent numerous religious emails to USDA employees since becoming secretary in February 2025, including an Independence Day email calling for God’s protection of and favor toward the United States. It also referenced a Christmas email in which Rollins purportedly said in part that “God gave us the greatest gift possible, the gift of his Son and our Savior Jesus Christ, who came to free us from our sins and open the door to eternal life.”  

The issue “reached a crescendo” with an email Rollins sent on Easter Sunday in early April that characterized the religious holiday as “the greatest story ever told, the foundation of our faith and the abiding hope of all mankind,” according to the complaint. 

The email referenced “the very real trials and hardships we face” but said “fear and sin and death do not get the last word,” the complaint said.  

“And so like the very first disciples to encounter our risen Lord in the Upper Room almost two thousand years ago, this Easter let us too be alive with hope, full of Paschal joy and confident in the mission each of us has been called for,” Rollins’ email said, according to the complaint.  

The complaint argued that the alleged emails violate the First Amendment, which bars the government from "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," and the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies develop their regulations and procedures.  

“While we do not comment on pending litigation, we will keep the plaintiffs in our prayers during this process,” a USDA spokesperson told USA TODAY on May 13. 

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Democracy Forward and Bryan Schwartz Law, P.C., are representing the union and USDA employees. Both Rollins and the department are named as defendants in the lawsuit. 

Issue spans the federal government, union president says

Plaintiff and USDA employee Ethan Roberts said the alleged messaging makes him feel “unwelcome,” according to Americans United for Separation of Church and States’ May 13 news release on the matter.  

“We work for the federal government, not a church,” Roberts said. “I just want to go to work and make my country better – I shouldn’t have to suffer through sermons and other religious messages forced upon me by the head of a federal agency.”  

Randy Erwin, the union’s national president, was also quoted as saying employees across the federal government have expressed similar concerns.  

“Every agency feels like it’s the epicenter for a new outbreak of Christian Nationalism,” Erwin said. “We just want to do our jobs without having to fend off proselytizing and preaching. That’s a basic American freedom, not something we should have to go to court to secure.”  

Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, accused the Trump administration of “waging a relentless and increasingly brazen crusade against church-state separation and the religious freedom of federal workers.” 

“Trump is not Jesus, federal agencies are not churches, and cabinet secretaries are not government preachers,” Laser said.  

Among other requests, the complaint asks the court to declare that the alleged messaging violates the Establishment Clause and Administrative Procedure Act and prohibit Rollins and the department “from continuing to send or otherwise communicate proselytizing Christian messages to USDA employees.”  

BrieAnna Frank is a First Amendment reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected]. 

USA TODAY's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.