(CNN) — The Department of Labor held its first-ever prayer service for its employees, in a highly unusual move that mirrors an initiative at the Pentagon.
The service, which took place Dec. 10 in the auditorium of the department’s headquarters, included a speech by Yaakov Menken, a right-wing orthodox Jewish rabbi, who during his speech, disparaged gay marriage, transgender people and the fact that people use gender pronouns, according to two Department of Labor employees who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to press.
An employee watching the event said the remarks caught them by surprise. “I was not prepared for the unnecessary cruelty.”
Another employee said they were “appalled.”
“I am an out queer person in the workplace and I don’t appreciate being spoken about in that hateful way,” the person said.
In a telephone interview with CNN on Friday, Menken pushed back on the characterization of his remarks as hateful, saying that he was instead advocating for “religious liberty” in the workplace and against employers requiring people to do things they say are against their beliefs.
Many employees were taken aback by the service, sources told CNN, and some felt like it should not be happening in a government building during work hours.
The event — held in the building’s biggest space, bearing a stage and podium with the department’s logo — also included prayers by three employees of the DOL’s Center for Faith, one Labor department employee who attended the service told CNN. Another agency employee sang hymns and tried to lead the crowd in singing along, according to the employee. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer spoke at the service, telling the crowd she has a rosary with each bead representing a state.
A spokesperson at the Department of Labor, in response to questions from CNN, emphasized the event was nondenominational and voluntary for employees.
“The Department hosted a voluntary, nondenominational service. Employee participation was entirely optional, and work was not impacted. Those who weren’t interested simply continued their day as usual,” said spokesperson Courtney Parella.
Department leadership promoted the prayer service in an email, from the account faith@dol.gov, to all employees on December 2, telling them they could attend in person or virtually. Another email on December 7 reminding employees about the service described the event as nondenominational.
“They did scripture readings from the Bible. They did the Lord’s prayer. They sang ‘Amazing Grace,’ … and then ‘God bless America,’” the Labor employee told CNN.
The employee said the service acknowledged Advent and Hannukah, but not other holidays, like Kwanzaa, which fall at around the same time. “It was very Judeo-Christian,” the employee said of the service.
“I would wait to see in coming months before questioning whether this is all intended to just promote christianity to the exclusion of other religions I don’t think thats the direction they’re going,” Menken told CNN on Friday.
The service comes as the Trump administration has sought to reinterpret the idea of separation of church and state in federal workplaces. In July, the Office of Personnel Management issued a memorandum allowing federal workers to promote their religious beliefs to colleagues, display religious items at work and pray together or individually.
Earlier this year, the Pentagon held the first of what it said would be monthly Christian prayer services in its auditorium, and broadcast live on the department’s internal TV network. That event featured a sermon from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s hometown pastor. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Experts told CNN at the time the event violated the First Amendment’s prohibition on the US government endorsing a religion because the Department of Defense promoted it in a brochure with the department’s logo, and because Hegseth personally hosted the event.
George Washington University law professor Ira Lupu told CNN he doesn’t believe the Department of Labor’s service violated the Constitution. “If it becomes coercive in some way, or perceived to be, then the Establishment Clause of the Constitution is implicated.”
“An agency meeting that opens with a prayer from an official does not violate the Constitution,” Lupu said. “But an agency gathering designed as a full-fledged worship service, involving leadership from clergy, presents serious Establishment Clause questions. In addition, it is a question about leadership, about whether it’s prudent or appropriate for a leader to be doing something that might alienate some of the people who would otherwise attend the meeting.”
Chavez-DeRemer said at the event she got the idea to host a service from Hegseth.
One of the employees who spoke with CNN said they have served in the Labor Department under multiple administrations. Previous labor secretaries, like Marty Walsh, who served during the Biden administration and is a devout Catholic, have never mentioned their faith, the employee said. Eugene Scalia, who served during under the previous Trump administration, also “never brought it up.”
“I’ve been in government for decades, and we don’t have religious ceremonies sanctioned by political leadership,” they said. “We very much had that pretty hard separation of church and state.”
The-CNN-Wire
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