Abstract The condition of radiative equilibrium in the atmosphere of a rotating star is examined. An expression is obtained for the radiation flux in the atmosphere of a rotating star under the assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium for the case in which the centrifugal force has a potential. It is demonstrated that the hydrostatic condition and the condition of radiative equilibrium contradict each other, and that the order of magnitude of non-vanishing divergence of radiation flux calculated under the assumption of strictly hydrostatic equilibrium is much larger in the atmosphere than in the interior. It is shown that this difficulty is removed as follows: when the viscosity can be neglected, the angular velocity of rotation is redistributed in the steady state in such a way that the divergence of radiation flux vanishes. Thus no meridional circulation is driven and the centrifugal force is no longer conservative. When the turbulent viscosity is important, the nonvanishing divergence of radiation flux drives the meridional circulation and this maintains the differential rotation against the viscous damping.